Let It Begin
by xXxlilly.harunoxXx
Summary: This story is about, when Sasuke left the village. I always had in mind what would have happened if Sasuke let Sakura join him. Both left the village and went to Orochimaru to become stronger. What will happen between them? Sasusaku!
1. Prologue

**_Hi guys! Welcome, welcome! This is just the beginning of the story...I wanted to post at least the beginning of this story, don't worry about my other story. I'm still working on it. I actually wanted to finish my first story before writing another story, but I had this one in my mind for a while now, like a while! Trust me. I wanted it to get off my mind and well...,...now you have it...enjoy!_**

 ** _p.s: I have fixed this chapter. Are there still some mistakes? PM me!_**

 _ **Special thanks to my Beta-readers**_ : - GreyHowler and - Artist-kun

* * *

It was middle of the night. The wind blew through the trees and everyone was asleep in their homes. Two people stood in the streets, facing each other right under the shining moon. Sakura had tears running down her cheeks, pleading with the one she loved, not to leave her. Scared that he was slipping into the darkness and all she could do was stand and watch, confessing her love for him, begging him not to leave the village. However, seeing there was no seed of doubt in his mind that she could bloom, she only had one option left.

" _I'll help you with your revenge, just please stay,_ " She paused. " _And if you can't._ _.._ " She was so overwhelmed, she didn't even know what was coming out of her mouth. She took a deep breath and finally finished her sentence, _"Take me with you, Sasuke-kun_."

Slowly he turned around and told her in his usual monotone voice, " _You're annoying_ _._ " He took a brief moment to stare at the weeping girl then turned around and walked slowly away, away from her and the village.

" _Don't leave me_!" she yelled, taking a few steps forward to Sasuke. " _If you go! I'll scream and-"_

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared and reappeared behind Sakura. " _Sakura_ ," he whispered. " _Thank you for everything_ ".

Sakura eyes widened, wondering why he was thanking her. Sasuke was about to knock her unconscious when Sakura quickly turned around, knocking his hand away in progress and jumped a few meters back. Sasuke was shocked at her quick movements, but masked his emotions immediately and asked her why she was doing this for just for him.

" _I'm not going to let you do this alone. Besides I also want to get stronger, I need to get stronger_ ," she answered with determination in her eyes. Sasuke noticed it and got a little interested before giving a little smirk and walking past her.

" _Just don't get in my way_."

Sakura turned around, shocked to hear this, too shocked to even move. ' _Does this mean I can go with him_ _?_ ' She watched the Uchiha walking away, still not understanding what just happened.

 _"_ _Yes_!" she yelled with a heartfelt decision and ran to catch up to him. As Sasuke walked out of the village, he stopped to ask Sakura for the last time if she was sure she wanted to do this, if she was ready to betray the village, her friends and family, ready to live the life of hatred, because this was her last chance to turn back.

She closed her eyes and thought about her family and her friends. She made up her mind. With a smile and determination lacing her voice she answered, " _I don't mind, as long I'm with you. I told you already, I'm not going to let you do this alone_ ".

He looked at her apprehensively. When he saw that she really had made up her mind, he walked further. Before she followed Sasuke, Sakura turned around to have one last remorseful look at the village, _'_ _Naruto, Kakashi, Mom, Dad...I'm sorry_ _,'_ she thought. Sakura closed her eyes, took a deep breath and followed Sasuke.

 _ **xXx**_

They walked up a hill outside the village where they met four Sound Shinobi. Sakura didn't know what to do when she saw them. ' _Who are they_ _?'_ she thought.

The first ninja was odd. He had black hair and so many arms, like a spider. The second one had silver hair, but nothing else seemed odd about him. The third one was big, bigger than Choji and had orange hair. The last one, the only female in the group, had dark red hair.

The one with silver hair first spoke. He apologized to Sasuke for their first encounter.

" _What's with the change of attitude? Whatever, let's go,_ " said Sasuke, walking past them.

The guy with the spider-like arms stopped Sasuke and told him that Orochimaru never said anything about someone else coming along.

" _She has the same goal and seeks power from Orochimaru. She came of her own free will,_ " explained Sasuke without looking back at Sakura.

Sakura knew this was going to happen. She needed to think of something fast or she'd get left behind or worse, get killed. She knew she had to drop the sweet girl act if she wanted to get stronger, if she wanted to stay by Sasuke's side. She moved her face from view, her bangs falling into her face as laughter escaped her lips.

Everyone, including Sasuke, looked at her confusedly wondering what she was planning. The one with dark red hair wanted to say something to Sakura, but was cut off when Sakura revealed her face. She had such a blood lust expression in her eyes and it startled all the shinobi.

" _You have a problem with that? I followed him on my own. I want to get stronger and Orochimaru is the key for that. You want to stop me? Go ahead, I dare you, but I promise you this; Orochimaru would have been delighted if he knew I was seeking him. And if he finds out that one of you killed me._ " She paused and walked past them, standing next to Sasuke. " _Who knows, what he might do to you,_ " she finished with the darkest tone she had ever used in her life.

The dark-haired girl wanted to attack Sakura just to show how weak Sakura was and how she needed to respect the older and stronger shinobi but the girl had underestimated Sakura and let her guard down. Sakura used that opportunity to smash that girl's face into the ground and grabbed one of her arms in a death grip.

" _You wouldn't mind if I break one of your arms, would you?_ " she asked with her dark tone with a bright smile like she was enjoying it. Sasuke was shocked to see this and yet again, masked his expression right away acting like it didn't impress him and he didn't care about it. The silver one began to like Sakura even more.

Before the dark-haired girl could do anything, Sasuke stepped in, saying that they shouldn't waste more time. The fat-guy and the spider-armed guy agreed with him. The silver one told the redhead to drop it and asked Sakura to let her go. Sakura complied, got up from her and walked past them. Sasuke gave a little smirk, thinking things were getting more interesting. The silver one let Sakura join them, but on one condition. " _Don't get in our way, or you'll die_."

Meanwhile, Sakura tried to catch her breath. She was so scared and couldn't believe what she just did, but also elated she got "accepted". She was glad she was able to stay with Sasuke, but sad about her friends and family. She shook off her thoughts about the village. She had already made her decision; she couldn't back down now, especially after she had done that to that sound ninja girl, knowing the sound Shinobi were too strong.

" _Let it begin,_ " said Sasuke, looking back at the village before departing, making their way to Orochimaru.

' _Let it begin? What have I gotten myself into_?' thought Sakura. ' _But I don't have a choice. This is the only way, before I…before I...'_

* * *

 ** _~To Be Continued~_**

 ** _Thank you for reading! This is just the beginning, that's why it's a little short._**

 ** _Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!_**


	2. Catching up

_**Hi guys! Welcome! Thank you for following me, put me as your favorite and reviewing! :D**_

 _ **Special thanks to my Beta-readers:**_ Artist-kun and -GreyHowler

 _ **enjoy!:**_

* * *

It was early in the morning, Kakashi was gracefully jumping from roof to roof to get to the Hokage's tower. Tsunade summoned him to come with a sudden urgency. Kakashi gave an exhausted sigh; He hadn't fully recovered from his previous fight with Itachi and now, she needed him early in the morning. When he entered the office, he noticed Shikamaru was already there, who was giving a confused expression and Tsunade a frustrated and angry expression.

 _"Hurry up, Shikamaru_ ," she ordered. He nodded and hurriedly ran out of the office. Kakashi gave a confused look, waiting for an explanation as for why he was called so early in the morning and why she was mad.

" _Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno left the village and are on their way to Orochimaru_ ," she announced. Kakashi gave a loud gasped. He never thought Sakura would just leave her friends and family behind for Sasuke…

" _I have assigned Shikamaru to find four more Genins and go after them. We lack manpower at the moment and I can only send them. You can rest for now, you have just recovered from your fight with Itachi_ , " she explained further and looked out of her window.

Kakashi turned to walk out of the room, " _I hope you did the right thing Tsunade-sama, but may I ask how you knew they left?"_

 _"Sakura was acting strange these past few days. She seemed distant from her studies and I confronted her about it. She didn't tell me but I assumed after the Uchiha was let out of the hospital and when she came back from her individual mission, she started to act different. I asked one of the Aburame clan to put a tracking bug on both of them just in case. I thought nothing would happen...I was wrong and now this happened_." she explained, angrily slamming her fists on her desk.

" _I see..."_ said Kakashi, walking out and closed the door behind him. Tsunade knocked over one of her piles of files of her desks.

" _Damn you two_!" she cursed as she looked down at the slightly crumpled papers on the floor.

 _ **xXx**_

It was silent the whole time. The Sound Ninja and the two former Leaf ninjas have been traveling away from the Leaf Village for hours. Sakura was exhausted. The sun was rising and they hadn't even stopped once until with eyes wide open, she yelled for them to stop. Everyone stopped and looked at her.

" _What do you want pinky_?" asked Tayuya (the redhead girl), still not taking a liking to Sakura or accepting her to come along. Sakura walked up to Sasuke and asked him to turn around, but he neither responded nor moved, still looking confused at her. Sakura became impatient with him, turned him around by force and started to observe his back. " _Sakura! What are you doi_ -"

" _I knew it_!" she yelled victoriously as she took something off his neck, right behind his hair. Everyone looked at her hand. It was a tiny, black bug.

" _Well well Sasuke, you have yourself a good girl here_ " said Sakon, smirking.

" _Hn. What is it, Sakura_?" Sasuke ignored Sakon and got straight to the point with Sakura, looking at her and demanding an answer.

She sighed. _"It's a bug_ ," she paused, while thinking back. " _It's probably from the Aburame clan_." She looked at the direction they came from, where the village is. " _Meaning they already know that we left_ ".

Giving a frustrated look knowing this would turn into a pain the ass, he activated his Sharingan and observed Sakura's body. Sakura noticed and couldn't help but blush. " _W-what are you looking at?"_ she stammered, too embarrassed to look at him.

" _Sakura..."_ He walked closer to her, reaching out with his arm towards her short hair as if he wanted to play with her hair.

Too embarrassed to look, Sakura closed her eyes. When she felt nothing, she opened her eyes to reveal her puzzled emerald orbs. She gave a shocked gasp when she saw him holding a bug. She noticed the bug on him yet she didn't notice one on her. How? She bit her lip out of frustration, biting it too hard that it even started to bleed.

.

" _Now that we have stopped anyway, y_ _ou need to take one of these_ " Sakon drawled, taking out black pills in a small see-through jar.

Because she was training under Tsunade before she left, she had read about medications and what effect they could have on the body. Sakura knew that those pills could have a deadly effect on the body. She wanted to warn Sasuke, but before she could say anything, Sasuke spoke; " _What are those for_?"

Sakon a smirked when Sakura gave Sasuke the answer, " _Those pills are deadly. They will kill you_."

Sasuke took a step back. " _What?"_

Sakon's smirk grew wider. " _It's true. In order for the curse seal to activate and reach its full potential, he must die once_ " explained Kidomaru (spider arms dude) with an evil smile on his face.

" _How will I know this won't actually kill me? How can I trust you?._ " Sakura couldn't believe the way Sasuke is acting. He was actually calm. How can someone be so calm when he learnt he had to die?!

 _'I don't trust them_ ,' she thought.

Tayuya explained further that they were skilled in barrier_jutsu, it would keep anything from interfering with the transformation and besides, if they let him die, Orochimaru would have their heads.

Sakura was sweating. She couldn't believe that was happening. She had to watch the one she loved die right in front of her. He was trusting them! Why?! He was actually putting his life in the hands on these Sound Shinobi!

Jirobo (The fat guy) pulled out what it looked like a big barrel, explaining that he would put Sasuke's body in there. He put one of his large hands on Sakura's small shoulder to calm her down but it clearly didn't work. Sakura still didn't trust them much but maybe her trust was painstakingly and slowly rising for the big fat guy.

Jirobo came up with an idea, " _If we let him...,we'll give you the chance to kill us...,...or just me_."

Sakon liked his idea, but Tayuya and Kidomaru didn't agree one bit. They wanted to argue but Sakon shook his head; they couldn't waste any more time.

" _Fine, let's get this over with_ ," Sasuke finally decided. He noticed Sakura's face became deathly pale when she heard his decision. She looked so scared she would faint anytime.

Sakura became even more scared when Sakon suddenly mentioned; " _That girl will join you, but she has to be unconscious too_ ". Too startled to say anything, Sakura looked speechless at Sasuke, hoping he will go against it.

" _Whatever_ ," he responded, giving an answer she didn't want to hear.

Sakura was against that idea. She finally snapped out of her shock and said, " _H-how will I know they won't kill me when I'm unconscious?!"_

She's now even more scared than before; not only would Sasuke maybe die but she would also get killed by them. Her hands started to shake violently but she tried really hard to hide them. She needed to act strong in front of them or they'd surely kill her for being too weak. Right before her mind could snap and before she went insane, Jirobo put his hand on Sakura's shoulder once again, claiming he would put her body in the barrel and make sure the others wouldn't harm nor kill them.

Sakura calmed a little down but was still scared, until Sasuke called her. She looked at him, unable to herself from blushing...and finally calmed down when he said; " _You don't have to trust them, just me. I won't die and neither will you. This might be easier for us. You said it yourself that, they probably already know that we left. They might be on their way to get us back. If we both are inside the barrel, it will be easier for us to escape. Do you trust me?"_

She looked straight in his eyes. This wasn't the Sasuke she knew, he was actually being kind to her, but from the looks of it, his face showed he didn't like having to deal with this and was getting impatient. He wanted to hurry up and go already. When she nodded her agreement, Sasuke knocked her unconscious.

 _'Sasuke-kun...don't die_ ,' she thought before blacking out

Sasuke took the pill and swallowed it with one gulp. After he swallowed it, he let out a loud yell and fell on the ground, trembling with pain and collapsed.

 _ **xXx**_

Meanwhile, Shikamaru picked Neji Hyuga, Naruto Uzumaki, Kiba Inuzuka & Akamaru and Choji Akimichi for this mission.

" _Let's keep moving, they're bound to be up ahead_!" shouted Naruto.

" _Let's not be too hasty and just barge in there. Stick to the plan_ " said Shikamaru wisely.

" _But they could get further away from us_!" continued Naruto, his impatience preventing him to stick to some plan.

" _Naruto is right. If we don't act fast, they'll flee and even our sense of smell won't be enough to track them_ " explained Kiba.

The group kept moving, jumping from tree to tree, searching for Sakura and Sasuke.

 _'I have a bad feeling_ ' thought Shikamaru fearfully.

Neji helpfully used his Byakugan to search for them. When he finally found them, he shouted; " _They are not alone! They're on the move and faster than before!_

 _"Then we also have to move faster_!" yelled Naruto and the five took off at high speed.

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* * *

 _ **.**_

Jirobo quickly put Sasuke and Sakura in the barrel and everyone sealed it.

" _Dark Sealing Method_!" they shouted, black smoke appeared around the barrel. The sealing tags lit up with red letters and the smoke died down, sealing the barrel shut.

Tayuya looked frustrated at the sealed barrel, angry that she didn't have the chance to kill Sakura. " _Why did you put her in the barrel?! I wanted to kill her, you fatso_!"

Jirobo ignored the word 'fatso' but answered her question, " _I gave her my word_."

Sakon was the one who him gave the idea in the first place. Tayuya continued yelling and yelling, " _Your word? You have gotten soft! And you too Sakon! You were seriously going to keep that bitch?! This is gonna be the death of both of you, assholes_ "

Kidomaru kept staring at the sealed barrel when he finally asked Sakon; " _Was it wise to put them together? He might kill her_ "

Jirobo looked at his hand, thinking back to when Sasuke slapped his hand off of Sakura's shoulder and gave them an answer, " _I don't think it will be a problem. He won't kill her_."

Tayuya looked at the fat guy, seeing he was acting weird. " _What...don't tell me, you have fallen for that bitch_?"

" _Hmpf, hell no_ " he answered, picking up the barrel and swinging it on his back before they all started to run faster towards Orochimaru's hideout.

 _ **xXx**_

Naruto was determined to get his friends back no matter what! As the group was moving, he got lost in his thoughts; _'Why Sasuke? You too, Sakura! Wasn't everything okay? How did this happen in the first place_?'

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts when Shikamaru yelled at him to pay attention. One of the four sound ninjas had stopped while the others went up ahead.

 _ **xXx**_

Jirobo took the barrel off his back and tossed it to Kidomaru. He decided to hold the pursuing ninja off while the others went up ahead.

As he waited for them to come, he smirked when he saw only two showing up, Choji and Kiba. He easily dodged their attacks and shouted: " _You three! You can come down! I know you're there!"_

Shikamaru thought this plan would work, but it turned out to be a failure. He nodded to the rest of the team and jumped down along with Naruto and Neji.

" _You! Where are Sasuke and Sakura_?!" shouted Naruto, audaciously pointing at Jirobo.

Jirobo chuckled looking at the ground, then raised his eyes with a murderous glint lurking in them, " _They are far away from here and that pinky is probably already dead_. "

Angered by his words, Naruto and Kiba recklessly attacked Jirobo. _"Naruto, Kiba! Wait_!" yelled Shikamaru, but it was no use.

He easily knocked both of them on the ground. Neji eyes widened when he used his Byakugan, " _He is right! The others' speed picked up. If we don't finish this fast, we'll lose them."_

 _"Shit!"_ cursed Naruto. They needed to find a way to defeat him fast or he'd lose his friends.

.

* * *

.

After a short series of attacks and getting stuck in a rock prison which drained an ample amount of their chakra, Choji decided to stay back and fight this guy alone while the others caught up to Sasuke and Sakura. At first Shikamaru hesitated but seeing there is no other choice he told Choji to come back fast and they all left to catch up to the others.

" _Heh, a fatty decided to stay and fight me? What a joke_!"

Choji got mad at the nickname and started to yell that he was not fat and attacked him head on. Seeing he had underestimated Choji, Jirobo decided to activate his curse seal.

.

* * *

.

" _They are still chasing us, why don't you go take care of them_?" Sakon asked, looking at Kidomaru.

" _Fine by me. This thing is starting to get heavy anyway_ " answered Kidomaru, tossing the barrel to Sakon. " _You carry it. It was your stupid idea to bring the girl along."_

Sakon caught it and kept on jumping from tree to tree along with Tayuya while Kidomaru jumped down and landed heavily on the ground.

 _ **xXx**_

Neji noticed that another one stayed behind and warned the others. Shikamaru ordered them to run around Kidomaru. They suddenly heard a loud explosion that rumbled through the trees. Everyone except for Naruto looked back where the sound came from.

Naruto continued to muse; _'Why? Why would both of them leave_?!'

Shikamaru smiled lightly. _'Good job Choji. I knew you could do it'_ he thought.

Neji turned back and kept focusing on the two sound ninja, telling them that they were almost there. _'Hold on you guys! I'm coming!_ ' thought Naruto.

 _ **xXx**_

" _Damn it_!" cursed Tayuya, noticing the others were still chasing them.

" _That useless Kidomaru! He probably didn't know that those brats went around him_ " said Sakon, fuming.

.

When they finally caught up to them, Naruto looked frustrated around; he didn't see Sakura or Sasuke. Sakon and Tayuya decided to stop and face them as Sakon put the barrel on the ground. His back was aching; he didn't expect the barrel to be this heavy.

" _Where are Sakura and Sasuke_?!" shouted Naruto, pointing at Sakon and Tayuya and also looking at Neji, waiting for an explanation why he didn't see them.

" _Heh, that bitch is probably dead_ " answered Tayuya, smirking arrogantly.

" _What_?!" yelled Naruto, angered by her words and itching to attack her so badly. That wasn't the first time he heard someone saying that Sakura might be dead but Shikamaru yelled at him to calm down. Neji used his Byakugan to see what's inside the barrel and explained that both of them were positioned in the barrel. Naruto looked confusedly at Neji.

He explained further that Sakura was still alive, however...

" _What is it_?" Naruto demanded impatiently.

" _Sasuke's chakra seems to be getting stronger and stronger by the minute_."

" _Tayuya, you go on ahead_ ," whispered Sakon. Tayuya took the barrel and went ahead. Naruto angered by this went after her, screaming to give them back. Shikamaru yelled at him to wait but no change occurred. Neji saw it was futile to stop Naruto and told Shikamaru to go on ahead while he and Kiba took care of Sakon.

Sakon tried to stop Naruto and Shikamaru but got distracted by Kiba, making an opening for them to go after Tayuya. Sakon was now really irritated by these brats and decided to finish them quickly. He activated his curse seal to level two.

.

* * *

.

Meanwhile, the duo were chasing after Tayuya when they saw her talking to someone.

" _Why are you here, Kimimaro_?" she asked shocked, she didn't expect to see him.

" _Orochimaru-sama said you were taking too long and gave me an order to bring Sasuke to him,_ " he explained monotonously.

" _D-did you kill Kidomaru?"_ she asked, scared to hear the answer.

He nodded a confirmation claiming someone who fell for such a lame trick didn't deserve to work for Orochimaru. He took the barrel and went ahead, commanding Tayuya to take care of the rest of those brats.

Naruto ran past her and went after Kimimaro before she even noticed it. She wanted to go after him, but got paralyzed by Shikamaru with his Shadow_Possession_Jutsu, telling her that he'll be her opponent.

However the battle went out of his hands when she activated her curse seal level two and summoned giants. Shikamaru managed to dodge all their attacks but didn't pay attention to one and almost got hit. Thankfully, he was saved by Neji.

Neji explained they were able to defeat the other ninja. Kiba was exhausted from his battle and told Neji to go on and help Shikamaru.

The monsters kept attacking, swinging their giant weapons at them. One hit Neji in the head and the side of his head started to bleed.

Shikamaru noticed that she was using her flute to control the monsters. As one of them started to suck Neji's chakra and energy, Shikamaru quickly used his Shadow_Possession_Jutsu to stop her from playing her flute. The jutsu was a success and the monsters disappeared, dropping Neji who lost consciousness after all the blood loss.

Tayuya broke his jutsu easily since he was running out of chakra. Currently, she had the advantage again and no one was now able to back him. Then out of nowhere someone yelled;

" _Wind style: Wind Scythe Jutsu_!"

* * *

( _ **Let's go to Sasuke and Sakura**_ )

Sakura finally woke up to the sound of Sasuke's faint breathing in her ear. She couldn't see anything; it was pitch black inside the barrel. Her body ached all over, she couldn't stretch since it was too cramped.

 _'Where am I_?', thought Sakura.

Then she realized she was in a barrel with Sasuke. All the memories came, flashing back to her. Jirobo really did it; he gave her his word and he kept it.

 _'I hope he's okay. He was the nicest one among the four of them'_ , she thought.

She noticed Sasuke was sitting in front of her. She crawled to get in a good position and put her head onto his chest, she waited for a few seconds and trying to listen to his heartbeat...,...,...it was very faint.

 _'Don't die Sasuke-kun!. He can't be dead! It's all my fault! I should have stopped him from taking that stupid pill! Please don't leave me! Don't die!'_

She suddenly felt some movements. She sat up and peered through this darkness. Sasuke's breathing increased and his heart started to race the way it should be.

" _S-Sasuke-kun?! You're alive! Are you okay?_!" asked Sakura as she was getting closer to him, hoping she could see his face. Sasuke didn't respond, but only gave a smirk as the curse mark completely covered his body.

Sakura tried to call his name once again, but let out a sharp yell. Something was digging into her back. She realized that it was Sasuke's hands on her back, grabbing her tightly. Her struggling and yelling caused his hands to dig deeper into Sakura's skin.

" _S-Sasuke-kun! You're hurting me_!" she yelled as Sasuke's nails dug deeper into her back.

He suddenly pulled Sakura closer to him and said right by her ear, " _Sakura, I need power. I need to destroy him_!"

 _"S-Sasuke_ " she whispered softly, his nails dug deeper and deeper until her back started to bleed but she didn't mind that for the moment. She hugged him tightly, not letting him go, while his nails dug deeper and deeper.

 _ **xXx**_

Kimimaro kept on running and leaped into a large clear area where he stopped, putting down the barrel and stepped away. _'This should be far enough'_ he thought.

Then a yell came from across the clearing area; it was Naruto. " _Give them back, now_!"

Kimimaro sighed and started to move towards Naruto. " _It was their decision to go to Orochimaru-sama. There's nothing you can do to bring them back"_

 _You're lying! They would never_!", defended Naruto.

Kimimaro smirked, when a sudden rattling sound followed by a big bang came somewhere behind him. Naruto looked at the barrel, he saw smoke coming from the barrel.

He looked relieved when the smoke cleared. He saw Sasuke standing next to Kimimaro. Happy to see he is okay, but his happiness was instantly deflated when he saw Sakura. She was unconscious in Sasuke's arms.

* * *

 _ **~To be continued~**_

 _ **Thank you for reading!**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!**_


	3. Arrival

_**Hi guys! Welcome! How are you guys?**_

 _ **MERRY CHRISTMAS!**_

 _ **I managed to upload it on Christmas...yaaay!**_

 _ **I'll name this chapter. 'Let it begin' ...,...,...,...Thank you very much**_ **Ninja girl** _ **.**_

 _ **Now question for this chapter: How was your Christmas day?**_

 _ **Special thanks to my Beta-readers:**_ Artist-kun and - GreyHowler

 _ **Enjoy:**_

* * *

Naruto stared at Sasuke, who was holding Sakura in his arms. He was shocked that Sasuke would stand so calmly next such an evil man, but also relieved to see that they were okay.

 _"Sasuke, Sakura-chan! Come back! Sasuke, you don't need to go to that snake bastard to get stronger! You can get even stronger in the Leaf. Don't go down to that path Sasuke!" y_ elled Naruto, _"And Sakura-chan, why? Why did you follow him?"_

He didn't notice Sakura was unconscious. She had fallen unconscious while she was hugging Sasuke; He looked down at her when he noticed that her grip on him had loosened. As she was about to fall, Sasuke wrapped his arm around her back, letting her head rest on his shoulder while her feet lightly touched the ground.

" _You bastard! What did you do to her? You better not have hurt her_!"

Sasuke started to laugh maniacally. His laugh carried through the entire clearing area. Naruto was very confused, ' _Why_ _the hell is he laughing_?'

 _"It's about time you came out. Orochimaru is waiting for you; you should leave now,"_ said Kimimaro when Sasuke's laugh died down.

With that said Sasuke looked down again at the unconscious Sakura in his arms and adjusted her position so she was being carried bridal style before taking off.

" _Wait! Come ba_ -" he was cut off by Kimimaro's bone blade cutting his cheek. _'Damn it, I have to finish this guy quick_ ' thought Naruto frustrated.

Naruto used Multi_shadow_clone_jutsu: causing over a hundred clones of himself to appear around Kimimaro. However, within a blink of an eye, over half of them were killed, covering the clearing area with a cloud of smoke. Kimimaro swiftly dodged all the attacks and began attacking back, killing more of the clones which turned into more puffs of smoke to conceal the clearing.

While the smoke filled the area, Naruto and one of his clones joined and started to form the Rasengan. Once it was ready, he lunged forward to attack Kimimaro but was easily stopped.

Naruto was starting to have trouble fighting Kimimaro, even with all the clones. Kimimaro's Taijutsu skills were more than enough to match for Naruto's superior numbers. The Rasengan didn't work either; Kimimaro was too fast and strong plus Naruto found Kimimaro gross, the way he was using his own bone as a weapon. Kimimaro swung his bone at Naruto's head, but was stopped by Rock Lee and Gaara.

" _Naruto! Go get Sasuke and Sakura. We'll take care of this guy_ " shouted Lee.

" _You sure_?" asked Naruto worriedly.

" _Save Sakura-san! I'm sure she has a reason or maybe she was forced to do this_ " responded Lee.

" _Go save your friend from the darkness like you saved me_ ", Gaara encouraged him.

" _Right!"_ shouted Naruto and took off to pursue Sasuke and Sakura.

.

* * *

.

Sasuke heard Naruto shouting their names over and over again, but ignored it as he jumped from branch to branch. He felt movements against his arm and looked down,

" _Sakura..."_

Sakura opened her blurry eyes. Even with the leaves of the trees blocking the sun, it was too bright so she covered her eyes with her hand. When she felt the wind on her face and heard Sasuke's voice, she looked up and what she saw scared her half to death. Sasuke's left eye had turned to a golden color and the curse mark had spread across his face. She reached up and stroked his cheek where the curse mark was spread. She immediately stopped after realizing what she was doing and responded to his call, _"Y-you called_?."

" _Hold onto me. I'm going to pick up my speed_ ". Sakura did what she was told and she slowly clenched his shirt.

 _"Hold on tighter"_

Sakura was startled by his order but said nothing and complied. She clenched his shirt even more and rested her head on his chest. Sasuke was slightly shocked at this, but he suppressed his true emotions as per usual and started to run even faster.

Sakura felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest at any moment and she was incredibly red in the face. She was both nervous and excited. Millions of thoughts were racing through her head and she couldn't believe how physically close they were. The two being like this seemed like a heavenly dream to her but she knew she shouldn't focus on that now.

.

 _"Sakura...hold on tight and don't let go of me. No matter what_ " he ordered.

Sakura wanted to ask him what he meant by this but stopped when she gasped in astonishment. They have reached a large clearing area with two statues on each side and in-between the two was a gigantic waterfall. She had never seen anything like it before, but suddenly remembered that she had read about it somewhere.

 _"The Valley of the End_ " she whispered, _'Goodbye everyone, I'm sorry,_ ' she thought.

She snapped out of her thought when Sasuke spoke. " _Remember what I just told you_ " he said as he looked down at her.

 _'Hold on tight and don't let go of you. No matter what'_ she thought. When she nodded and looked up wondering what he meant by that.

That's when she got her answer, at least the first part **~hold on tight~.** Sasuke jumped from the first giant statue, over the gap between the statues and landed on the other. While in the air, Sakura was amazed and scared at the same time. Afraid she might fall, she pushed her face against his chest.

She peeked and sighed out of relief when they landed but froze instantly when she heard someone yelling from across the gap. " _SASUKE, SAKURA WAIT_!"

Sakura wanted to look, but she couldn't. She couldn't look at the person she betrayed so she kept silent and didn't move.

.

Sasuke gave a smirk and started to laugh maniacally. Sakura didn't look at him, she too was frightened. She had no idea what Sasuke was doing or thinking or even what he had turned into. He turned towards the darkness to become stronger and turned away from his friends and the village, from the people that cared for him just to seek revenge. To Sakura it was wrong and messed up, but she had no choice but to stay by his side and watch over him.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Sasuke spoke. " _Hn. What do you want, Naruto?."_

 _"I want you two to come back_!" he shouted.

" _Go back? Why should I go back to that pathetic excuse of a village_?". Sasuke turned to face Naruto.

 _"It's not pathetic! You could get even stronger if you stay with people like Kakashi-sensei_ " he argued back.

 _"You can't achieve anything there. You will only get weaker."_

 _"You're wrong! Say something Sakura-chan! You know I'm right, right"?!_ he shouted while looking at his female friend in Sasuke's arm. Her face was still turned away. She clenched onto Sasuke's shirt tighter when she heard Naruto. She didn't know what to say or how to face him.

" _Are you forcing her to leave with you! What did you do to her?!"_ he shouted further, looking mad at Sasuke. Because of the lack of response from Sakura, Naruto was still thinking that she might still be unconscious. Sasuke spoke again, just when Sakura wanted to say something.

" _She just wanted to follow in my footsteps to get stronger...she can't achieve that wimpy the village"_ said Sasuke smirking and turned back around, facing towards the path he should take to reach Orochimaru's hideout. He whispered so only Sakura could hear him, " _Remember what I told you. Do it and stay quiet_ "

" _I'm going to bring you and Sakura back if that's the last thing I do_ ". said Naruto and launched at Sasuke. Sasuke turned around once again and kicked Naruto's stomach, then dropped Sakura's feet to punch Naruto in the face. He was sent flying into the water at the bottom of the waterfall. Sasuke grinned when he saw how much damage he had dealt to Naruto. He didn't know he had so much power because of this whole development with his curse seal. Luckily Sakura had obeyed Sasuke's order, held on tight and didn't fall when he released one of his hands.

Sasuke put Sakura behind a boulder, ordering her to stay there quietly and not to interfere. As he was about to leave to fight Naruto, Sakura held his wrist, stopping him from going. Sasuke looked back at her and gave her a glare.

" _Y-you should be careful. There is something you don't know...,..."_ she hesitated for a bit, wondering if she should tell him but plowed on before she could change her mind, " _Naruto has some special power within him. He is the one the nine-tailed fox was sealed in"_.

" _Hn_." said Sasuke. He jerked his wrist of Sakura's grip then jumped down to fight Naruto. Sakura felt a pang of guilt as she watched the two friend begin to fight. She looked around and finally noticed not one of the sound ninja are here. That meant that Naruto had either beaten them all, or he had help.

 _'I hope Jirobo is okay...I mean, he was the nicest one among the four sound ninjas'_ she thought. That's when she heard loud noises; the battle between them had begun. She hoped someone would stop them, like before.

.

* * *

.

The bang Sakura heard was Naruto and Sasuke unleashing the Rasengan and Chidori respectively which caused each other to fly backwards.

Naruto suddenly realized something and looked around. He clenched his teeth together, angered he didn't notice it sooner. " _Where is she?! Where is Sakura-chan! What have you done to her!"_

" _Heh_ ," Sasuke chuckled, " _She's long gone...probably with Orochimaru, waiting for me"_

 _"You're lying! She was unconscious in your arms! Where did you put her! You didn't kill her, right!?"_

Sakura still sat behind the boulder and hearing boys' argument, peeked a little that only Sasuke could see her. ' _That's why he told me to stay quiet,_ ' she thought as she watched them battle.

" _Maybe she's gone, maybe she's dead. Why do you care_?". Enraged after hearing this, Naruto called on the powers of the Nine-tails within him. Surprised by the insidious chakra he sensed, Sasuke watched in slight awe as Naruto's wounds healed and his strength and speed increased exponentially. Sasuke thought back before he fought Naruto...,...Sakura did warn him about something.

 _'This is what she was talking about_ ,' he thought. He glanced at Sakura, who was trying really hard to look at the battle while hiding her presence from Naruto.

" _Why would you go so far just to stop me_?" Sasuke asked angrily.

" _You were always better than me and admired by everyone and I hated you. I was so pissed when we were assigned to the same team, but now you're like a brother to me! You still think you're better than everyone; but the decision you're making right now is wrong! There are better ways to get stronger. You need to come back to the village before you do something even more stupid and get yourself killed before I can defeat you_ " Naruto retorted.

Sakura felt like crying she heard such a beautiful speech from the one she always thought he's an idiot. Sadly, it didn't effect on Sasuke who was thinking that it was already too late. His decision is final and tightened his headband. He needed to finish this battle quickly.

Naruto manifesting a fox-shaped cloak and Sasuke entering his cursed seal's second level. Sasuke clashes his Chidori again with Naruto's Rasengan. Sakura gasped as the battle continued and what she saw scared her.

Sasuke had let the curse seal take over; his hair was longer along with his fingernails had grown till they looked like claws. His skin was darker and a black star appeared on his nose. But the thing that scared her the most were the demonic hand-like wings that grew out of his back.

Naruto was being engulfed by the Nine tails chakra, turning his own chakra red and bubbling out. Long ears and a tail grew from the chakra energy and his hands turned into claws.

Their combined energy created a dome for them to fight in. Sasuke punched Naruto and Naruto scratched Sasuke's headband. Sakura hid behind the boulder; waiting for the trembling to stop. She was too scared to look after seeing a gigantic black chakra sphere.

When the black chakra faded, Sakura came out from behind the boulder to see the result. Naruto was lying on the ground and Sasuke was standing over him.

 _"Sasuke-kun!"_ she yelled and ran towards him when he fell to his knees. Sasuke's headband fell off and onto the ground next to Naruto. Sakura put one of his arms around her neck and helped him stand up.

 _"Let's go_ " he said in a low tone.

Sakura had a hard time trying not to look back. She wanted to know if Naruto was dead or alive, but knew she shouldn't. The rain started to pour as they approached Orochimaru's hideout. Just before they entered, Sakura paused, not sure if what they were doing was the right thing. She wanted to go back to the village and apologize, but knew Sasuke would go to Orochimaru with or without her.

She asked Sasuke if he was okay. Getting no response from him, they continued walking until they found themselves in a large room.

 ** _xXx_**

" _Welcome Sasuke_ " greeted Orochimaru.

"And i _t would seem we have another guest_ " spat Kabuto, appearing from the shadows to stand next to Orochimaru.

Sakura almost growled at him; it was his fault that Sasuke was standing here like this. At the same time, Sakura was scared out of her mind. She knew that even the Hokage was no match for this snake bastard and she had nowhere enough strength to come close to the Hokage. She didn't know what to do or to say when Orochimaru asked for her name. All she knew is she shouldn't show her dissatisfaction to him. She held Sasuke's arm tighter around her neck, took a deep breath and finally spoke.

" _M-my name is S-Sakura Haruno_ " she introduced herself.

After her introduction, he asked her why she's here. Sasuke spoke for, her taking his arm off her neck.

" _She followed me to gain power as well. We can't accomplish that in that weak village"_ Sasuke thought for a moment about something and looked straight into Orochimaru's eyes.

" _I want to get stronger. I need to find someone. I need to get answers from him. Even if I have to kill him_ " she said with determination. Orochimaru took a liking to her tone and eyes of determination and welcomed her. Sasuke stared at her; she didn't tell him about this and got a little curious about this certain someone she is talking about.

 _"T-thank you Orochimaru_ " she said as she bowed her head.

" _Well at least someone has manner_ " said Orochimaru, looking at Sasuke.

" _Whatever_ " said Sasuke as he walked to one of the walls and leaned against it.

 _"Heh, no manners at all. Sakura will start tomorrow with your training with Kabuto...and Kabuto go and tend Sasuke's wounds_ " said Orochimaru further.

" _I-if I may Orochimaru. Can I train alone for now_?" she asked a little worried how he might react to this selfish request. Much to her surprise Orochimaru only asked 'why'.

 _"I-I want t-to master some things first before trying something new. And also c-could I be the one to...heal Sasuke?_

Kabuto began to say something, but Orochimaru - interest in this girl -cut him off. "Very well, Sakura. You may do both. Kabuto, show her to Sasuke's room. Because we weren't expecting you, Sakura, you will have to share rooms with Sasuke.

Kabuto growled quietly, then beckoned for Sasuke and Sakura to follow him to their room.

Having shown Sasuke and Sakura's room, Kabuto turned back the way they had come. Sasuke opened the door and walked in with Sakura trailing behind. There were two beds opposite of each other pushed against the wall. Sasuke walked over to the bed on the right and took off his shirt, allowing Sakura to heal his injuries. Sakura could feel her face getting hot; they were alone in a room they shared and Sasuke had no shirt on. She tried to focus only on healing the wounds, but couldn't stop staring

" _Thanks. Now go to sleep_ " he said when she had finished. She walked to the bathroom where she bandaged her wounds she gotten from Sasuke's nails. She left the bathroom and went back to their room and lay down on her bed. Sakura stared at the ceiling, wondering for what seemed like the millionth time whether she had made the right decision.

.

* * *

.

" _Tsunade-sama_!". Shizune shouted as ran into Tsunade's office.

" _What is it_?" asked Tsunade, putting down some documents.

" _Naruto and the others returned but some of them are seriously injured! The medical team needs your help_!" she reported.

" _I'll be right there_!" yelled Tsunade.

Before Shizune left, she paused and added another sentence..

" _They returned...without Sasuke and Sakura",_ said Shizune quietly and walked out of the Hokage office.

Once Shizune was gone, Tsunade shattered her window with her fist. " _Damn it!"_

 _ **xXx**_

Tsunade ran to the operating room to help the other medics. Shikamaru and Kiba weren't seriously injured, just a few broken bones and one stab wound. Neji was suffering from internal bleeding in the head, but was treated with the help of Shizune and other medics.

Choji was in the most critical condition and almost died. His heart beat was faint and his breathing slowed down. Tsunade was able to lessen the after effect of the pills he took and managed to keep him stable condition. Naruto wasn't seriously injured because of the Nine-tail's energy had lessened the damage and healed him fairly quickly.

 _ **xXx**_

Sakura couldn't sleep; something was bothering her. She sat up, checked if Sasuke was asleep and sneaked out of the room. However Sasuke wasn't asleep and saw her leaving, but he didn't care and stayed in his bed.

Sakura walked around the hideout, hoping she wouldn't get lost until she found a group of sound ninjas talking. She decided to hide and eavesdrop on them. When she heard them talking about searching for the sound ninjas that had met Sasuke and Sakura, she confronted them.

 _"You guys are going to search for them?! C-can I come with you guys_?" as she said this, she finally realized that was what was bothering her: she was worried about Jirobo; he hadn't returned yet. She didn't know why she was so worried for him, just that she wanted at least one person here who wasn't so cold to her.

One of the sound ninja in front of her was against the idea of taking her. She might still be exhausting from her trip. Sakura notice everyone was being polite to her and asked, " _Why are you so nice to me? I only just got here. You shouldn't even be considering letting me out. I might escape and tell everyone where your hideout is"_

 _"You are important to Orochimaru-sama...meaning he trusts you. And you are the only one who has manners among all the favorites of Orochimaru-sama_ " answered one of them.

" _Does that mean I can come with you_?" Sakura asked one more time. They hesitated at first, but agreed in the end when they saw Orochimaru signaling from the shadow, signaling them to let her go. They gave her a coat to shield her from the rain outside.

 _._

* * *

 _._

 _"I finally have Sasuke!"_ said Orochimaru, greedily.

 _"Yes, but was it wise to let her go with them?" asked Kabuto._

 _"Trust me. This will make everything easier_. " said Orochimaru and started to laugh maniacally.

 _ **xXx**_

Meanwhile Naruto was looking lifelessly at the headband that used to be Sasuke's. It felt like his soul left his body. Everyone was in the same room, disappointed in themselves for failing this mission. Lee wasn't injured enough for him to stay in the hospital thanks to Gaara, but still choose to stay with the others; he failed this mission. The room was silent for a long time until Choji finally spoke,

" _Sakura...,...she will never forgive me_ " he said quietly. Everyone looked at him and Naruto asked the first question that popped into everyone's mind.

" _What do you mean, Choji?"_

 _._

 **(Flashback) During the fight between Choji and Jirobo**.

Choji struck Jirobo down and said, _"I hear insults about myself everyday, but I won't let anybody diss Shikamaru!"._

Choji then channeled all of his chakra into his left fist to prepare the Butterfly Bullet Bombing technique. Realizing that his life would probably end, Jirobo said his last words out loud..." _Looks like I won't come back...Sakura_ "...

Choji wasn't able to stop his attack after hearing those words. Choji punched him in the chest for eating the last chip and insulting Shikamaru, creating a giant crater and crushing Jirobo's heart, killing him instantly.

 **(End of flashback)**

" _I think...I killed a friend of Sakura's_..." finished Choji, his voice trembling like was about to cry.

 _ **xXx**_

While Choji was telling his story, Sakura was standing lifeless before Jirobo's dead body on the ground. She removed her hoodie slowly when she first saw him...she couldn't believe he was dead...The rain poured down on her head hard enough that nobody saw her crying.

" _My lady, you'll be soaked and might get a cold...Please put your hoodie back on_ " said one of the sound ninjas. Sakura neither respond nor move; she kept staring at Jirobo. She remembered right before Sasuke knocked her unconscious, she had told Jirobo to be there when she woke up...and he promised he would.

They found the other three sound ninja's bodies, including with Kimimaro, buried them and started to go back to Orochimaru's hideout to report to him. She stayed quiet the whole trip back, when they got there, she walked somberly back to her room where Sasuke was lying on his bed. He noticed her eyes weren't shining like they usually were. They were dim and the way she walked looked like she has lost both her mind and soul.

Sasuke knew he should say something to her, but he was speechless. She was soaking wet and he could easily read her face that she has seen something she didn't want to or shouldn't have seen.

" _Did you kill Naruto_?" she asked him blankly.

" _Hn, I don't know. You should dry yourself and go to bed_." he answered, acting like it didn't concern him seeing her soaking wet. He was about to turn around to face the wall, but was startled what Sakura said next.

" _You should have killed him...at least one of them should have died. It's not fair_!" she said quietly. Her expression was still blank and her eyes still dim.

Sasuke sighed, stood up and went to the bathroom. He grabbed a towel, and, just as Sakura felt she was about to lose her mind, he threw it at her face.

" _You should learn to control your emotions or you'll lose your mind. Go take a shower, cool your head and go to bed_." he ordered her and lie back down on his bed.

Sakura obeyed. Slowly walked to the bathroom and took a shower. She cried silently to herself in the steamy water so Sasuke wouldn't hear. _'I will never forgive them!'_

* * *

 _ **~to be continued~**_

 _ **Thank you for reading!**_

 _ **Reminder: My question for this chapter: How was your Christmas day?**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!**_


	4. Training

_**Welcome welcome!**_ _ **Happy new year guys!**_

 _ **Thank you for reviewing!**_

kamacori _**Thank you, I had a wonderful Christmas yes. :)**_

 _ **Now question for this chapter: What's the worst anime you have ever seen?**_

 _ **Special thanks to my Beta-readers:**_ Artist-kun and GreyHowler

 _ **Enjoy: (This continue right after chapter 3)**_

* * *

Sakura woke up sweating and gasping after a sleep plagued with nightmares. She looked around the room; the candles were almost out and Sasuke was still lying down on his bed.

 _'Did I sweat this much_?', she thought as she felt something wet on her back.

Her eyes widened when she saw her bloodied fingers. She jumped out of her bed and ran to the bathroom to peel off her bandage and take a shower.

 _'Good thing I brought extra clothes'_ , thought Sakura. After she had bandage her wound, she chose a red top, short enough to reveal her stomach, with white circular designs etched on it and black shorts underneath a short red apron skirt that matched her top. She looked at herself in the mirror. The style she was wearing, including the bandage around her stomach, reminded her of Ino. She slapped her cheeks to stop herself from thinking about the people she betrayed. She took a deep breath and walked back into the bedroom.

She stared dismally at her bed, which had several dark red bloodstains. " _I need new bed sheets_ ", she sighed.

" _They are in the closet_ ", a low voice spoke behind Sakura, startling her. She hadn't notice that when she ran to the bathroom, she slammed the door loud enough to wake Sasuke up. When he woke up, he turned around to see what was going on. He wanted to yell at Sakura for waking him up, but changed his mind when he saw the bloodstains on her bed. Now he was sitting on his bed, silently watching her as he waited for the bathroom.

" _I'm sorry for disturbing you, Sasuke-kun_ " she said softly as she took a clean set sheets out of the closet.

" _Whatever_ " Sasuke got up and went into the bathroom to change while Sakura put the new sheets on her bed. When she was finished, she sat down and waited for Sasuke to finish.

" _Good luck_ " said Sakura as Sasuke was about to leave for training. Sasuke was confused and wondered why she was still sitting on her bed, but decided he didn't care and left.

 _'Sasuke-kun is always so short with me',_ thought Sakura, sighing and looking at the shut door, _'At least he's still the same'_.

She crossed her legs, shut her eyes and started to concentrate.

 _ **xXx**_

Sasuke's training lasted for eight hours. During this time, he worked on his Taijutsu, speed, Fire Jutsu and Chidori with Orochimaru. Orochimaru dodged all of them easily, which frustrated Sasuke to no end. By the end of the training, Sasuke was exhausted.

 _"This will be what you train in every day. Improve your skill and I will teach you new Jutsu. Meet me again tomorrow, Sasuke."_ said Orochimaru.

Sasuke didn't respond and walked out of the spacious training room and continued down the hall to his and Sakura's room. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Sakura still sitting on her bed. He was starting to think that she was just wasting her time, waiting for him to return, but that thought jumped out of his head as soon as he saw that Sakura was covered in sweat and blood was dripping from her nose.

 _"Sakura!",_ he yelled and ran towards her. She didn't respond in any way and continued her meditation. She finally snapped out of it when Sasuke slapped her. Her face turned beet red when she saw that Sasuke was so close, even holding her.

She stopped blushing when she felt something wet drip onto her leg and looked down. Her eyes widened when she saw blood and touched her nose. She was speechless and, for a second, didn't know what to do. Sasuke walked to the bathroom to get a towel for her. She wiped the blood from her nose silently, too embarrassed to look at Sasuke. She couldn't believe Sasuke actually saw that. She was also confused as to why her nose was bleeding and started to think hard. Then she realized something and asked; _"How long have you been gone, Sasuke-kun?"_

Sasuke sat on his bed and answered, _"Hn, about eight hours. What were you doing anyway?"_

Sakura looked at her bloodied tower and laughed softly, _"I was trying to control my chakra. From the looks of it, I was doing it for the whole eight hours."_

Sasuke didn't say anything and neither did Sakura, taking his silence as 'I-don't-care' answer.

 _"Why don't you heal those wounds on your back?"_

Sakura was so shocked that she almost forgot his question. _"The person who gave me the wounds in the first place asks me why I'm not healing them. Really?...Well, I can't reach them"_

 _"Hn_ " Sasuke got up and went to the bathroom and took a shower. Sakura was stunned. They actually had a conversation...sort of. She lay down and let her giddy thoughts lull her to sleep.

* * *

Time passed with each day being fairly similar to their first. Sasuke would train with Orochimaru for about eight hours while Sakura, sitting on her bed, concentrated on her Chakra. Little by little, Sasuke and Sakura got stronger and, encouraged by their progress, started having conversations. Before they knew it, it had already been a week since they left the village.

 _"Tomorrow I will teach you a new Jutsu_ " said Orochimaru proudly one day, seeing how much Sasuke was improving.

After his training, Sasuke walked back to his room, expecting Sakura sitting on her bed. When he walked into the room, he noticed a few differences. Not only was she sitting differently, but he was also able to see the wounds on her back.

Sakura was facing the wall and her bandage was off. Sasuke stared at the wounds he had given. They were pretty deep but what was really strange, was the fact that they hadn't healed in the slightest. _'I thought Sakura's wounds naturally healed quickly'_

But while he watched, the deep scratches started to knit themselves together until they were completely gone. There wasn't even a scar. Sakura sighed out of relieved and turned around to see Sasuke was still staring at her.

" _Gwaa_!" Sakura jumped a little, _"S-s-s-Sasuke-kun! The hell?! Don't scare me like that!"_

Sakura's scream snapped Sasuke out of his thought , " _hn...whatever. Expect the unexpected. A ninja never leaves their guard down"._

 _"I-I know...j-just don't do that again_!" Sakura was so scared that her heart felt like it wanted to jump out of her chest.

"Hn" ,Sasuke turned around and sat down on his bed. _"How did you do that_?"

 _'Sasuke-kun is actually curious about something_?' she thought and answered quickly, " _I-I told you before that I was busy controlling me chakra. Today, I tried controlling my chakra so I can heal my body without using my hands."_

Sakura looked at Sasuke, hoping he might be impressed or interesting, but, again he stayed quiet. She wanted to ask him how his training went, but she knew she'd get the usual answer; " _It was interesting._ "

* * *

The next day, Sasuke again noticed something was different. Sakura wasn't sitting on her bed and, now that her wounds were healed, she didn't have any bandages.

 _"I noticed you are wearing these days different clothes."_

Sakura couldn't stop blushing and didn't face him, " _Y-yeah, I can move more freely with this short top than my qiapo dress."_

Sasuke grunted again and said to Sakura, "Come with me. Orochimaru wants to talk to you"

Sakura nodded, got up and followed him into the hall. They found Orochimaru in one of the other rooms and stopped in front of him.

" _Glad you can finally join us, Sakura_ " said Orochimaru. Sakura only nodded and stood slightly behind Sasuke. _"I have a room you requested. Kabuto is already there"_

She thanked him and followed a sound ninja to the room. The hideout was way too big and had so many different rooms and corridors that it was almost like a maze. If she hadn't memorized the place yet, she would've easily gotten lost. Then again, maybe that was the point. It would be harder for enemies to infiltrate this place if they got lost every third turn.

When Sakura entered the room, she looked around and noticed Kabuto standing in the middle of it. The room was big and empty just like she asked.

 _"Good to see you Sakura, let's see what you can do before we begin your training_ " said Kabuto.

Sakura wanted Kabuto to join her incase she needed his help with something. She started with infusing her chakra into her fist and threw a punch at the ground. The hard tile cracked a little from the impact. Sakura stared at the crack and sighed out of disappointment.

 _"Heh, good Sakura, you can concentrate your chakra into your fist. Why are you disappointed? This is only the beginning"_

Sakura gave Kabuto a small smile as he smirked back and they continued their training.

 _ **xXx**_

While Sakura was practicing her chakra control, Sasuke was learning a new Jutsu; a summoning Jutsu. Orochimaru pulled out a scroll and handed it over to Sasuke. Sasuke cut his finger and wrote his name on it with blood.

Sasuke formed the correct hand sign and placed his palm on the ground. A very small snake appeared. Sasuke stared down at it, annoyed that he was only able to summon such a small create.

Orochimaru couldn't help but laugh at him, which only made Sasuke feel worse. Orochimaru told Sasuke to keep practicing and left, still chuckling.

 _ **xXx**_

After a few hours passed, Sasuke finished his training and was walking back to his room when he heard noises coming from one of the rooms. Once he found the door the sounds were coming from, he opened it a crack.

He saw Sakura channeling chakra into her fist and breaking the walls and the ground in various chakra. After a minute or two, she noticed Sasuke peeking through the door. She lost her concentration and her chakra left her fist. It was too late for her to stop and her hand, traveling towards the floor as fast as she could make it go, hit the tile...

" _Ghaaaaa!"_ she screamed as her hand broke against the hard tile.

"Sakura!" yelled Kabuto and ran to her. He didn't understand what happened; until now she had done it perfectly. Then, Kabuto noticed light was coming from the door to see Sasuke standing in the doorway, speechless.

" _Shut the door_!" yelled Kabuto in frustration and looked back at Sakura.

She was trying really hard not to cry and held her scream in, but the pain was too much and soon she collapsed. Kabuto picked her up and carried her to her room. He laid her on her bed and turned to Sasuke, who had arrived a few minutes before Kabuto and Sakura.

 _"Please, don't disturb her training. She is weak and who knows what might happen to her_ " explained Kabuto to Sasuke, who was sitting on his bed.

Sasuke got up and took a shower after Kabuto tended Sakura's hand and left. He stood under the running water for a few minutes, thinking about what he had done to Sakura. After his shower, he stood next to Sakura's bed, staring at her broken hand. Kabuto did much to heal her hand but not completely mended yet; her hand had turned a blueish purple color. He searched for a bandage in the closet before carefully wrapping her hand and going to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura woke up and looked at her wrapped hand. It was throbbing painfully and she moaned. She noticed Sasuke was already up and taking a shower. She sat up and removed the bandage. Kabuto had been able to set the bones in her hand fairly well, but they were still fractured. She concentrated her chakra and started to heal her hand.

Sakura had just finished when Sasuke walked out of the bathroom. They looked at each other in silence for a few moments-Sakura was worried Sasuke would see her as weak now, while Sasuke thought she might be mad at him-before Sasuke spoke.

 _"How is your hand_?" he asked. Sakura saw that Sasuke felt a little guilty and gave him a bright smile to ease him up.

" _Fully healed_ " she answered. She stood up and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. Like every other day, Sasuke met Orochimaru for his training and Sakura met with Kabuto.

" _How is your hand_?" asked Kabuto when he saw Sakura.

 _"fine now_ ", she replied.

" _Good. Now that you have learned to control your chakra better, I will begin teaching you new Jutsu and strengthen your mind and body."_

Kabuto lead Sakura into another room that was filled with poisons, scroll, medicines, medical tools and operation tables.

" _Now, before we begin, is there any particular art you wish to have as your main weapon?"_

Sakura was walking around the room, looked at the scrolls and the poisons and after a few moments, replied, _"I want to learn all sorts of poisons. How to make them and how to cure them. Teach me everything there is to know about them."_

Kabuto stared into her eyes and smirked. While she said it, her eyes were filled with an unquenchable blood lust. What did she want with poison? What did she need it for?

 _ **xXx**_

Soon Sasuke and Sakura had begun to fall into a routine. Day after day, Sakura would learn new jutsu, poisons and healing arts with Kabuto while Sasuke worked with Orochimaru on his summoning and Chidori...but Sasuke soon noticed something was wrong with Sakura. She went to bed later and later every night until she wasn't sleeping at all. Kabuto also noticed Sakura's lack of sleep, but neither he nor Sasuke asked her about it; Sasuke acted like he didn't care and carried on with his training as normal and Kabuto just taught her how to make endurance pills every once in awhile.

.

One day, after Sasuke and Sakura had gone back to their room, Kabuto suggested to Orochimaru "Maybe we should have them fight each other"

Orochimaru became interested in this idea and sent one of his sound ninjas to bring them back to the main room and explained about the idea. Sakura hesitated first, but had no choice when she saw Sasuke taking his position to fight and she charged at Sasuke with a punch.

" _Hn_." Sasuke dodged her punch and grabbed her wrist. Sakura threw a kick aimed at his arm and Sasuke let go of her and stepped back. Sasuke threw shuriken to distract her and while she was blocking them, Sasuke moved and kicked her in the stomach. Sakura froze and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

" _Damn substitution_ "

From the side, Sakura threw a punch to his face. Sasuke was sent flying across the room and landed on his back. Sasuke tried to get up but felt a cold blade pressed against his neck. He looked up and saw Sakura with murder in her eyes.

 _'When did she get that fast? That's it! I'm not playing around anymore'_ thought Sasuke. He kicked Sakura away, but the blade managed to make a small cut on his neck as he did so.

When Sakura got back to her feet, she noticed Sasuke had activated his Sharingan. 'Great _, he's mad. Really mad...Shit! Here he come!'_ thought Sakura.

Sakura was too slow and Sasuke appeared in front of her and lifted her off the ground by her neck. Sakura tried to break his grip, but the difference in their strength was too vast. It was becoming difficult for her to breath.

" _I win_ " said Sasuke angrily. Sasuke let go of her neck and she fell on the ground, gasping for air.

.

" _That was an interesting fight, right Kabuto_ " said Orochimaru

" _Indeed it was, Orochimaru-sama"_

Sasuke turned around to face them, _"Hn, I'm leaving_ " said Sasuke and walked off to his room.

Sakura silently followed him and sat on her bed, while Sasuke headed to the bathroom to clean up. When he came out, Sakura's bangs fell in her eyes, hiding her face, and took her shower.

Sakura turned on the shower and let the cold water pour over her as she sat on the floor. She was shaking and scared of what had just happened. She sat there for an hour before she had calmed down enough to go back to the room and face Sasuke.

Sasuke was in bed, skillfully pretending to be asleep. 'Is _she going to sleep or will she continue her research in the medical room?'_ he thought.

After a few minutes Sasuke looked up and saw Sakura was sleeping. Seeing her finally sleeping, actually relieved him. _'Wait? Why do I even care about her_?!'

He rolled over so his back facing Sakura and went to sleep

 _ **xXx**_

Two hours later, Sasuke was awakened by Sakura's coughing. Sakura coughed loudly as if she didn't care that Sasuke was sleeping or as if like she couldn't control it. Sasuke turned around to yell at her to keep it down but was startled-though he would never admit it-a little worried when he saw her coughing thick wads of blood.

Sakura noticed she had woken Sasuke up and didn't want him to see her acting weak. She ran to the bathroom, slammed the door shut and stood before the sink' but being desperate to leave the room and hoping Sasuke hadn't seen her like that, she had totally forgotten to lock the door.

Sakura realized her mistake and wanted to lock the door, but couldn't stop coughing blood. Before she knew it, Sasuke opened the door and walked in.

" _Sakura..."_

She finally stopped coughing what felt like an eternity later and washed her face while Sasuke held her hair up. She knew this wasn't Sasuke; he didn't worry about people, especially not her. No matter how much she cared for him. So, like always, she gave him a bright smile and said; " _Don't worry. I'm fine"_

Sakura tried to walk past Sasuke, but he pinned her against the wall. Sakura tried to push him away but he grabbed her arms and pinned them over her head. Sakura realized how close Sasuke was to her and her face turned into a tomato. If she didn't calm down, Sasuke might hear her heart loudly thumping heart.

" _What are you hiding?"_

Sakura eyes widened when she heard his question, but couldn't give him an answer. Kabuto and Orochimaru had warned her not to get in Sasuke's way or distract him. He shouldn't worry about her; he needed to focus on his training.

" _I-I'm fine. I'm not hiding anything"_

Sakura looked in his eyes, he was looking frustrated. Before she could say anything further, Sasuke slammed his fist into her stomach and she fell limp into his arm. He picked her up and put her down on her bed.

* * *

 _ **(Next morning)**_

Sasuke had taken his shower and walked out of the bathroom to see angry Sakura glaring at him from her bed.

" _You didn't have to knock me out_ ", she said.

" _Hn. You are resting today_." he ordered her and left the room.

As soon as Sasuke left the room, Sakura noticed someone was standing in front of the door. It was a sound ninja who was working with Sakura when she pulled all-nighters working on her poisons.

" _You didn't show up at midnight, Sakura-sama"_

 _"Sasuke-kun knocked me unconscious. Can you get Kabuto for me_?" she asked, sighing.

" _As you wish"_ he said and disappeared.

.

After a few minutes Kabuto entered the room, _"You needed something?"_

 _"This may sound stupid",_ she paused and stood up from her bed, _"but I have a favor to ask_ "

* * *

 _ **~to be continued~**_

 _ **Hmmm, what is Sakura thinking and hiding?**_

 _ **I think I have one or two more chapters before I skip time. Hope you don't mind.**_

 _ **Reminder: question for this chapter; WHAT'S THE WORST ANIME YOU HAVE EVER SEEN?**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!**_


	5. Training 2

**_Welcome! Welcome! Thank you for favoring and following me! You guys rock! Also thanks for reviewing!_**

 ** _xXx_**

 _ **BlueAngel7810**_ ; _**Thank you for reviewing...was SAO II's 'Excalibur' that bad? 'Phantom Bullet was epic as hell! :D**_

 _ **Worst anime I have ever watched, was School Days. I wish I have never seen it!**_

 _ **Question for this chapter:** **If you could live in one of your favorite anime. Which one will it be?**_

 _ **xXx**_

 ** _Special thanks to my beta-reader:_** GreyHowler

 _ **xXx**_

 _ **Let's continue!:**_

* * *

One day after training, Sakura sitting on her bed, dozing off while staring at the ceiling when Sasuke walked in on her.

" _I wonder if Sasuke-kun will forgive me, if he finds out that I did something so stupid_ " she thought aloud, failing to notice Sasuke was in the room.

" _What are you talking about, Sakura_?" he asked. He had walked right up to her but she still hadn't notice him.

" _Neh, I don't think so. He thinks I'm annoying; besides I had to do it, if I want to live_ "

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly and he moved closer to sit in front of her.

" _What are you talking about?!"_ he asked again, a little less calmly and a little more angrily. Yet again, Sakura didn't notice him. He moved closer to her ear and whispered; _"Sa-ku-ra_ "

Sakura, who was still half-daze, looked forward when she heard someone calling her. She finally noticed Sasuke was in the room when she felt something warm on her lips. Sakura's face turned completely red and pushed Sasuke off her bed. Sasuke stumbled off Sakura's bed and knocked his head against his own bed. Sakura touched her lips, still blushing and ran to the bathroom. She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, falling slowly to the ground.

' _T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-that was my first kiss'_

Sasuke was still sitting on the ground and rubbing his head; "Hmpf _, she didn't have to push me that hard_ " he mumbled and lay down on his bed.

 _ **xXx**_

After a few minutes, Sakura slowly and quietly opened the door. Seeing Sasuke lying on his bed, Sakura sneaked out of the room to meet Orochimaru. Orochimaru and Kabuto were waiting for her in an empty room a bit further down the hall than the one she and Sasuke shared.

" _You might die_ " said Orochimaru, almost giddily, as he saw her approaching. When Sakura nodded yes, Kabuto started to walk out of the room and whispered to her; " _You are way too weak. You'll definitely die."_

Sakura ignored him and started preparing herself for the pain she knew she would be experiencing very soon. Orochimaru made a hand sign and his neck stretched out. He bit Sakura's upper left arm and she froze. As Orochimaru's neck went shrunk back to it's normal length, Sakura dropped to the floor and tried to hold in her scream. The pain however, was too much to hold back and she let out a blood-curtling, ear-piercing scream. Orochimaru chuckled and walked out of the room, leaving Sakura alone. It felt like she was being burned alive, while being stabbed with a thousand knifes. She knew she had started running a fever and if she couldn't control it, she would die.

 _ **xXx**_

Sasuke was in his room trying to get some sleep when he heard a loud scream.

'I _s that Sakura? She's not back yet...wait...why do I care? I'm still pissed at her...over what? She pushed me away...whatever, she can take care of herself'_

Sasuke got up when someone knocked on his door. When he opened it, he saw Kabuto standing there with a smirk on his face. Sasuke wasn't happy to see him and asked bitterly what he wanted.

" _You really need to learn some manners, Sasuke_." Kabuto pauses as he started to walk away, he said further, "Y _ou might want to check on your roommate. She's not in the best situation right now"_

" _So that was Sakura's scream..."_ ,Sasuke sighed, " _I'll go see what's wrong_ "

 _ **xXx**_

Sakura was lying down on the ground, still holding her arm, trying really hard to hold her scream. She refused to even cry, determined to prove to herself that she was not weak. She needed to be strong, for Sasuke. But she couldn't hold it anymore and started to scream again when her curse mark started to spread painfully across her body.

Sasuke ran into the room; he couldn't handle hearing her scream anymore. When he saw how her body was covered with the curse, he had paused for a moment; he didn't expect this to happen. This was what she was talking about, wondering if Sasuke would forgive her when he found out she did something stupid. He ran towards her and knelt by her side, taking her hand in his.

" _Control the curse, Sakura. Stop it from spreading!"_

Sakura did as she was told and tried to control the curse. Her curse started to retreat little by little and after an eternity, her curse disappeared. Sakura promptly fainted. Sasuke picked her up bridal style and walked back to their room.

 _ **xXx**_

When Sasuke entered the room, he put Sakura down on her bed and felt her forehead; she was burning up. Sasuke got a wet towel and placed it on her forehead.

Sakura woke up when the cold towel touched her hot forehead and, still half asleep, giggled softly. Sasuke gave her a confused expression, wondering why she was laughing; it was the last thing he expected her to do at the moment.

" _Hehehe, this is like Chunin exam...but now our position switched_ " she said softly and fell asleep again.

"H _eh, I guess you're right_ "

Sasuke stayed all night up and took care of Sakura. After staying up all night and seeing as she didn't have a high fever anymore, he fell right away asleep on his arms on Sakura's bed.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, she felt something heavy on her chest as she opened her eyes slowly. The pain in her upper left arm was weaker. Her vision cleared slowly, but what she saw put her in shock. She had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't imagining it. Sasuke had fallen asleep and had laid on her chest. Sakura started to blush and her heart started to beat fast and loud. So loud that even Sasuke could hear it-of course, he was in the best position to hear her heart thumping.

Sasuke opened his eyes and stared at Sakura's beet-red face, still looking a bit tired, and she stared right back at him, blushing even harder.

' _S-so close...j-just like the last time...And w-we accidently kissed that time',_ thought Sakura. Thinking about that made her heart beat even faster.

 _"Are you okay, Sakura? Your heartbeat has increased and your face is really red. Has your fever returned_ " said Sasuke sleepily.

 _"I-I-I-I'm fine_ " She managed to say.

" _You sure?"_

 _"Y-y-yeah, but can you p-p-p-please get off me_ " She started blush more, if that was possible, and her heart began beating faster.

" _hn...",_ he mumbled, "A _t least let me sleep for a little. I did help you, Sakura._ "

" _O-o-o-o-okay but not on m-me,_ " she stuttered.

Sasuke smirked, ' _oh, that's why...I wonder...',_ he thought as he nuzzled his head onto her chest.

Sakura's heart felt like it was about to burst. She couldn't take it anymore and was going to sit up, but once she started moving, Sasuke was suddenly on top of her, pinning her wrists to the bed. His mouth was next to her ear and whispered;

" _You shouldn't move. You still need to recover..."_

Sakura, still blushing, stuttered out that she knew she had to rest, she just had to go to the bathroom.

" _No...because I know you're lying. If you get up, you'll regret it_ " said Sasuke and bit one of her ears.

" _I-I get it Sasuke-kun. D-don't you need to train_?", she squeaked.

He sighed and got off of her, knowing she was right. He needed to train. What was he thinking anyway? He walked out of the room, but before he was completely out the door, he turned around and said; " _Don't move too much or you will be in pain again. I will be back. Don't leave the room_ ".

Sakura sat up, still in shock over what had just happened. She didn't know what to do, should she be happy or worried? Why would Sasuke do that? He was so close to her. And even that time...they accidently kissed...but he didn't say anything after that happened. Sakura snapped out of her thoughts when a sudden wave of pain shot through her body.

" _Sasuke-kun was right, I shouldn't move so much."_

 _ **xXx**_

Sasuke arrived at Orochimaru's room, Sasuke was mentally beating himself up for what he had done to Sakura. What was wrong with him and why he do that? When he arrived at the training room, he saw Orochimaru standing in the middle. " _Glad you are here, let's continue your training_."

" _Hn...why did you give Sakura a curse mark_?"

" _My my, Sasuke. Are you concerned? Sakura requested it herself_." he said sweetly, then paused and continued a bit more venomously, " _Don't let your emotions get to you. They will distract you on your path to revenge"._

Sasuke clenched his teeth, knowing Orochimaru was right. _"Hn...let's train_ ".

 _ **xXx**_

Someone knocked on the door to Sasuke and Sakura's bedroom, then came in when Sakura voiced her permission.

" _What do you want, Kabuto_?" she asked nastily.

Kabuto laughed a little, " _I apologize Sakura. I just came here to see if you've survived."_

" _Of course I have. It was my request in the first place, remember? But I didn't expect to be left there on the cold floor_." said Sakura bitterly.

" _Oh, well at least Sasuke found you. I also came to tell you that you will be training along with Sasuke, Orochimaru, and me from now on"_

 _"Fine, is that all?"_

" _Not yet. We warned you not to distract Sasuke, didn't we? Stop distracting him."_ he stepped closer to her and her gave her a pill. She recognized it right away, this was the same pill that those sound ninja gave to Sasuke to achieve the second stage of the curse mark. Sakura immediately gave it back to Kabuto, claiming that while she did want to get stronger, she didn't want to look like a monster. Kabuto took the pill back and laughed a little at the thought that she wanted to get stronger without the second stage of the curse mark.

" _Oh yeah. We are moving to another hideout tomorrow morning_ " Kabuto announced and walked away.

' _How am I distracting Sasuke-kun? Did he see what happened between me and Sasuke-kun?! But its not like I started it! Oh I'm so confused_!,' thought Saskura and decided to lay back down for a while.

 _ **xXx**_

After four hours of training, Sasuke walked back to his room. As he entered, he saw Sakura sleeping on her bed. ' _She is beautiful...! Wait what am I thinking_?!'

He walked over to her and nudged her shoulder a little.

 _"Wake up, Sakura"_

When he nudged her again, she let out a soft moan and shifted a little. He moved a little closer to her and brushed a lock of her hair away. Realizing what he was doing, he stopped immediately and back away. Sakura woke up slowly, still sore, tried to sit up.

" _Oh, hi Sasuke-kun. I fell asleep...Did you need something?"_

' _Something is really wrong with me. I should be focusing on training, not Sakura;_ he thought, almost forgetting that Sakura asked him something, " _Did you go out of the room_?", asked Sasuke in a serious tone.

Sakura started to tell him everything Kabuto had said about moving to another hideout the next morning as well as her refusing the pill. It was then that Sasuke decided to pop his question.

" _Why did you ask Orochimaru for the curse mark, Sakura?"_

There was a pause for a minute before Sakura spoke. She couldn't tell him why she wanted one. She couldn't just say it bluntly _, 'I need to get stronger and prove to you that I can be powerful'_.

So she just decided to ignore the question, which made it obvious to Sasuke that she was trying to hide something from him. She started to mutter about getting up to pack her things for tomorrow.

Sakura stood up from her bed, still hurting, but not as bad as earlier and started towards the door. She needed to pack her poison scrolls.

As she walked towards the door, she tripped and started to fall, but instead of hitting the floor as she was expecting, Sasuke caught her, " _Hn...you're clumsy,_ " he said.

" _S-shut up! I-I just tripped!_ " she yelled and tried to walk away, but Sasuke pulled back. Her back was on his chest and he brought his head down next to her neck.

" _Hmpf, be careful next time, Sa-ku-ra_ " he whispered in her ear.

The way he whispered her name made Sakura blush a deep red. Trying to hide her blush, she wriggled out of his grip and dashed out of the room. Sasuke lay down on his bed, scolding himself again about doing that to Sakura.

' _What's up with him...H-he is acting strange;_ She thought, still blushing while packing her scrolls. One of the sound ninjas who was helping Sakura pack, started to ask if she had a fever, seeing how red her face was. Sakura nearly shouted her denial to the ninja and they immediately lapsed into silence again. Kabuto's words were also repeating in her head, over and over again. Was she really distracting him?

* * *

The next morning, Sakura woke up before Sasuke. She felt normal again; her body didn't hurt anymore. She looked at her curse seal on her upper arm. She still couldn't believe she actually did that. She was also tired of smiling and acting like she respect Orochimaru. The only thing she wants to do was give that snake bastard a piece of her mind, but doubted he would care since she wasn't strong enough to do anything to him. Sakura got up and walked to the bathroom to cool off and get ready.

Sasuke woke up a while later to the sound the shower being turned on. He sighed and closed his eyes again. He had taken care of Sakura all through night before, then had to train with Orochimaru for four hours. So of course he was way too tired to get up. He promptly dozed off again.

As Sakura walked out of the bathroom, she saw Sasuke was still asleep. She walked over to him, touched his shoulder and gave it a small nudge. One of his eyes opened when she touched his shoulder.

" _What do you want_ " he mumbled.

 _"We need to go_ " she said in a soft voice. Sasuke groaned and got up to take a shower. While he was taking a shower, Sakura started thinking about Naruto and the others back in the Leaf village. Orochimaru and his gang were leaving for another hideout, which meant that she and Sasuke would be going even further away from the Leaf. Could she still go back?

 _"Don't even think about it_ " said Sasuke. She looked up at him. She hadn't noticed Sasuke was already done taking a shower nor that he was in the room.

" _Don't even think about going back," he repeated._

 _"I-I wasn't thinking about that_ " she said quickly and looked away. He leaned closer to her ear and whispered demandingly not to lie. She denied once again that she wasn't thinking about the Leaf Village. This time, Sasuke pushed her on to the bed and moved his face closer to hers. Their faces were only a few inches away from each other. He looked into her eyes, deeper than before. She tried to close her eyes, but couldn't and looked away. He demanded once again not to lie. She broke down under his stare and admitted that she was thinking about the Leaf Village and told him that she won't do it again.

 _"Hn...I thought so...let's go_ " said Sasuke as he got up. Sakura knew Sasuke was right; she made her decision to go with Sasuke and she couldn't back down. They grabbed their things and walked out of the room.

As they walked down the hall, they began to hear a lot of noise coming from the other side of the hideout.

' _Is someone_ _attacking the hideout? Could it be Naruto?!'_ thought Sakura and looked in the direction the racket was coming from. A sound ninja appeared before them, telling them to hurry up; the hideout was really under an attack.

Sakura stared at the sound ninja. She felt like she was forgetting something. It finally popped into her head when the sound ninja apologized to her and called someone's name. Sakura suddenly began running in the direction the battle seemed to be. Sasuke noticed her and tried to grab her wrist but was a little too late. The sound ninja apologized once again and ran after Sakura.

" _Hn_ " Sasuke acted like he didn't care and walked to the room where they were supposed to meet Orochimaru.

Sakura rushed into her training room and saw another sound ninja lying on the ground. His leg had gotten stuck under a rock. Sakura broke the rock with her strength and healed his leg. The sound ninja apologized none-stop and gave her a scroll.

" _You idiot! I know you promised that you'd give it back to me...and that this scroll is important to me...but that doesn't mean you can throw your life away just for something like this_!" she yelled and smacked him upside the head. She took the scroll and put it in her bag. The first sound ninja Sasuke and Sakura met, finally caught up to Sakura. He yelled at Sakura and the sound ninja she helped to hurry up. They all ran out of the room and hurried where Orochimaru was waiting for her.

Sakura began to worry. She had just left Sasuke and rushed over here to help that idiot without thinking about the consequences. Did Sasuke and Orochimaru already leave? Did Sasuke think that she left him to go back to the Leaf Village?

Tears started to fill in her eyes, when she thought about being left behind. While on her way to the meeting room, Sound Ninja #1 told her that he and Sound Ninja #2 needed to go right while she needed to go left to meet Orochimaru. Sakura didn't want to split up; she didn't want it to happen again...like the other time with Jirobo. She didn't want to go safely to another hideout and later find out that they had died.

Sakura started to panic as such thoughts started to flood her mind. Did Sasuke leave her behind? What if he really did? Then she'd be alone...because she and the sound ninjas split up...and what if they died? Then she'd really be alone here...

She snapped out of her thoughts when she realized that both sound ninjas were promising her that they wouldn't die. After the promise, the ninjas took the right path while Sakura took the left. Tears were fighting to stream down her cheeks as she ran to meet Orochimaru, but she held them back.

Sakura froze instantly when she heard a loud voice. " _Sasuke! Sakura-chan_!

' _It can't be...Naruto?!'_

She didn't know what to do. His voice echoed all over the hall. Which way should she go? What if she took the wrong path and got captured by Naruto?

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she suddenly felt someone grabbing her wrist and pulling her in to run. She looked up and saw Sasuke holding her. She wanted to cry so badly; she was so relieved to see him. He didn't leave her behind after all.

 _ **xXx**_

Together they hurried outside to meet Orochimaru and Kabuto. Only then did Sakura realize just how long it had been since she had seen the sky. Well, their hideout was under the ground, so yeah...and Sakura wasn't allowed to go outside. Sakura put her hand over her eyes as the light blinded her.

 _"You're late. You guys almost got caught by those Leaf ninjas"_ said Orochimaru. Sakura was staring back the way they came. So it really was Naruto. He came all the way here to bring them back.

" _hn"_

 _"S-sorry_ " Sakura apologized. If she didn't go back to her training room to help a sound ninja...and if she didn't freeze when she heard Naruto's voice...they would have been faster...But something else had been bothering her. They way they spoke...Orochimaru had said _'You guys'..._ meaning Sasuke hadn't met them until now. Did he wait for her?

" _We will be relocating to another hideout. It will take about a day to get there if we go fast. We have to hurry before the Leaf ninjas will notice that we aren't inside anymore_ " explained Kabuto while walking towards Orochimaru.

" _Whatever. Let's go_ " said Sasuke and the four of them took off.

 _ **xXx**_

They had been traveling for five hours straight. Sakura was tired and, though she refused to show it, she hadn't fully recovered from the curse mark and it was still hurting her. Sasuke noticed that she was struggling and falling behind. He slowed down a little to run next to Sakura and asked her if she was okay.

Sakura nodded as she held her upper arm tightly. She'd manage it somehow. He nodded back and increased his speed to catch up to Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Finally after another hour of traveling, Orochimaru and Kabuto stopped. They decided to scout around to make sure the area was safe while the others could rest. Sasuke leaned on a tree and Sakura stood next to him.

When the Orochimaru and Kabuto were out of sight, Sakura jumped up and sat down on a branch, letting her feet dangle off the branch. Sasuke was still leaning against the tree with his eyes closed.

A few minutes later, Kabuto and Orochimaru have returned.

" _Let's move_ " Orochimaru ordered and they started to run again.

 _ **xXx**_

They finally arrived at their new hideout after another two hours. They walked into their new hideout and stood in the main hall. Orochimaru ordered them to get some rest and Kabuto lead Sasuke and Sakura to their new room.

Sasuke opened the door and walked in while Sakura followed him. Their new room was bigger than the one before as were the bed, but all the furniture placed in the same position. One bed on the left and the other on the right with dressers to accompany them.

" _Are you going to rest_?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke gave his usual answer _"hn"_ and fell on his bed. Sakura giggled, taking that as a yes and walked towards the door. She stopped when Sasuke called her. He sat up when she turned around.

" _Are you going to use those pills again._ "

She gasped when she heard the question. She started to stutter as she asked him how he knew about them. When he answered that it was obvious, she gave a small smile and told him she would be okay. But before she knew it, Sasuke pulled her back in, locked the door and threw her on his bed. His hands pinned hers to the bed and he placed his mouth next to her ear.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked and looked away while blushing.

" _It has been a long day Sakura. Get some sleep_ "

" _I'm not tired, Sasuke-kun"_

 _"I know you are lying_ " he replied. " _You got tired while we were traveling, so how can you not be tired now? You're hiding something from me again, Sakura. Tell me what it is."_

At first Sakura denied everything, but soon gave up. She started to tell him she couldn't sleep, that she'd been having nightmares and was lucky enough she didn't puke blood anymore.

She was too embarrassed to look at Sasuke and prepared herself for the worst. She expected him to say that she was pathetic or weak, but neither of those comments came out of his mouth. He just lay next to her, his back facing her and told her to try and get some sleep now. If only for today.

Sakura obeyed and tried to go to her own bed to get some sleep, but Sasuke grabbed her wrist as she got up and told her to stay where she was. Sakura's face turned red, like a tomato. She let out a silent gasp and didn't know what to do. Finally, she took a deep breath and lay next to Sasuke.

" _Before we left the previous hideout...You waited for me, didn't you? Why_?" asked Sakura. She waited for him to answer, but when he didn't, she closed her eyes.

It took a while for Sakura to finally get to sleep, but it took even longer for Sasuke. His face was also red and he kept scolding himself in his mind. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He blushed even more when he felt Sakura's breath on his back while she was clenching onto his shirt.

He wanted to tell her to back off a little, but she was already asleep. He let it go this time, this time only! His last thought before he fell asleep was;

" _I guess it would have been boring without you around_ "

* * *

 _ **~to be continued~**_

 _ **Thank you for reading!**_

 _ **Question for this chapter: If you could live in one of your favorite anime. Which one will it be?**_

 _ **If I could live in one of mine...I would like to live in Fairy tail! It was difficult for me to choose between Naruto and Fairy tail...but I wanted to**_ _ **have magic :D It looks fun to have magic**_

 ** _Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!_**


	6. Reunion

_**Hii guys! I'm back! I'm so sorry for being so late. It took longer than I expected to fix my chapters along with the help of my Beta-readers. I don't blame anyone. Everyone has their own life and busy schedule. It just need time.**_

 _ **I'm happy that I was able to upload it on Christmas. So enjoy!**_

 _ **Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful day!**_

 ** _Special thanks to my beta-reader:_** GreyHowler

* * *

Everyday held the same routine for Sakura: Eight hours of training and learning about the different types of poison. Learning new Jutsus from Kabuto, fighting against Sasuke (and losing all of them). At least she was able to have small conversations with Sasuke which, bit by bit seemed to be lasting longer.

And those sound ninja who promised Sakura they wouldn't die, really did keep their promises. Sakura was relieved to see them and immediately gave them a lump on their head, ordering them to never do that again. They worked together, helping Sakura learn her poisons. She learned how to make them, how to cure them and how to recognize them. The two ninja soon became attached to Sakura, telling her that she was the nicest person in Orochimaru's hideout.

She was also allowed to go outside the hideout as long as she had a sound ninja or Kabuto tagging along to make sure she wasn't seen. And before she knew it, three years had gone by.

 _ **xXx**_

Today was Sakura's oh, so infrequent day off. She found it rather suspicious, but let it slide as she was glad she finally had a day to rest. She was actually humming as she walked down the hall to the room she and Sasuke shared.

She wasn't surprised to see Sasuke resting on his bed when she entered the bedroom. She walked over to him and looked down at him. He opened his eyes and stared back at her,

" _What is it_?" Sasuke asked.

" _Kabuto and Orochimaru left a half hour ago and cancelled our training_ ", she answered.

" _Hn, whatever_ ", he said and closed his eyes. Sakura started to walk towards the door to take a walk, but Sasuke grabbed her wrist and pulled her down next to him.

" _W-what the he_ -" She was cut off by the door creaking open and a black figure taking a step into the room.

" _Who's there_?", Sasuke asked.

" _Caught me red-handed. I originally came here in order to kill you, but now i want to take you back to Konoha. I want to save the bonds between you and Naruto_ " explained the figure.

" _That's why you're here? That's why you woke me up_.", Sasuke asked. Through this exchange, Sasuke was getting more and more mad and let his violent chakra leak out and permeate the walls around them. Soon, the three ninjas felt a small tremor shake it's way through the room and the wall around them crumbled. Sasuke and Sakura jumped on the ledge that overlooked a destroyed base.

" _You just had to go that far and destroy not only our room but the entire base_ ", Sakura paused, sighed and continued, " _That's the fifth time already and only because someone disturbed your sleep….Orochimaru is going to be mad_."

As the dust and smoke cleared, the man, who had kneeled to keep his feet during the earthquake, slowly stood up and looked at Sasuke and Sakura. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud voice from the corridor.

 _"SAI!"_

Suddenly a streak of purple and white appeared and slapped Sai away. Sakura was confused and stood rooted to the spot, speechless. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was Ino!

Ino started to yell at Sai, but she was interrupted when a familiar voice called her; " _Ino…"  
_ Sakura whispered and she saw another streak, this one was orange and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. _  
_

 _"Naruto? You came too. Then that means Kakashi's here as well_ " said Sasuke.

A fourth figure entered the room and answered Sasuke's implied question. " _Unfortunately, Kakashi-san couldn't be here. I, Yamato, am here in his place,_ " he introduced himself.

" _We are here to take you both back home_!" yelled Naruto desperately.

" _Back? Don't make me laugh_ " said Sasuke.

Meanwhile, Sakura observed the team. A three-man squad including a sensei. 'That guy Ino called Sai might be Sasuke's replacement. Ino already has her Team. That means they haven't replaced me yet, huh,' Sakura thought.

" _Why are you even here, Ino_?" asked Sakura. Ino didn't answer. She had asked to be part of this mission, she wanted to bring Sakura and Sasuke back, but she had never thought of what she should do or say when she finally faced them after all these years.

" _Sasuke, if you come back now, your charges for leaving the Leaf Village and joining Orochimaru will be dropped_ ", Yamato paused, looked at Sakura and continued, " _We don't really know what happened to you Sakura. Were you forced to leave? Or kidnapped?"_

" _Neither_ " answered Sasuke, " _She followed me. She wanted to gain power what she would not be able to learn back at the village."_

" _No! Both of you can get strong at the Leaf Village."_ yelled Naruto. _"You just have to come back."_ Naruto continued to try to convince them to come back for several more minutes before Sakura interrupted him.

 _"ENOUGH_!" she shouted, covering her ears. "You don't know what I could have had if i stayed at the village. So shut up!" Seeing him again had brought back memories and she used this opportunity to let her frustration out of her systeem.

Everyone stared at Sakura after her outburst which no one had expected, especially Sasuke. Sakura sighed and continued;

" _You want me to come back? Sure, why not...but on one condition_ " Sakura paused, waiting to hear what Naruto's answer might be. Sasuke glared at Sakura, wondering what she was planning. Would she betray him? Was joining him and Orochimaru all a trap to help the others to bring him back?

" _Only one? Name it! I'll do anything for you! Just come back_ " Naruto answered with a smile, happy to hear that she might come back.  
However, his smile died down immediately, when she told him about the condition.

" _That day we left the village, some Sound ninjas were helping us reach Orochimaru, before you caught up with us. One of them was my friend, the fat guy, Jirobo. Did you kill him_?" She paused and looked at Naruto. The expression he was giving her showed that he knew exactly whom she was talking about and knew she wouldn't like the answer; so she continued;

" _Then that means that you were not alone. My condition is…..",_ Her voice darkened as she gave him a death glare, " _I want you to kill the person who killed my friend. If you are too afraid to do it then tell me who did it and I'll kill him myself_."

Naruto was sweating nervously. He saw how serious she was about this and he knew whom she wanted dead. That day when everyone was in the hospital, saddened about their failure, Choji had told Naruto what happened and how he thought that he might have killed a friend of Sakura's.

As much as Naruto wanted Sakura to come back, this was the one thing he could not do. He couldn't kill Choji nor let her kill him. He shook his head softly and looked at Sakura, hoping she might still come back. Sadly, the way Sakura was looking at him gave him her answer. She was not coming back, not until he told her.

Ino was frightened; this wasn't the Sakura she knew. " _S-Sakura, what happened to you_?" Ino asked softly.

" _You want to know what happened to me_?" she paused and with her quick speed, she stood in front of Ino, " _I got stronger I grew up. I'm no longer the immature, naïve child that left the Leaf Village_."

Sakura threw a punch at Ino's face and was send flying into a wall, smashing a hole through it. Naruto was startled, everything happened too fast. He wanted to stop Sakura, but wasn't able to move. Suddenly, Sasuke appeared next to him and drew his katana.

 _'They're fast_!', thought Naruto frustrated. Yamato used his woodstyle and tried to captured Sasuke as Sai pulled out a scroll and drew on it. Two tigers appeared and ran towards Sakura. She dodged one, threw two kunai at them and the tigers exploded into puddles of ink. Before Sai could draw more tigers, Sakura appeared behind him. She focused some chakra into her leg and kicked him into the same wall as Ino.

Naruto tried to grab Sasuke as Yamato was busy with his woodstyle. He failed miserable when Sasuke used Chidori_nagashi and released lighting all over his body, shocking Naruto and breaking Yamato's wood. Sasuke tried to stab the unguarded Naruto, but Yamato was able to block Sasuke's blade, but the kunai Yamato was holding broke under the force.

" _Damn it_ " cursed Yamato as Sasuke's kanata cut through him. Sasuke smirked and released waves of lighting thought his katana. He heard loud noises coming from Sakura's direction and saw she was done with Sai and Ino. She noticed he was looking and jumped along with him back up to the ledge.

" _Why don't you get it! Orochimaru wants to steal your body! He had to wait for a few years but he could take it anytime now! You know that too, Sakura-chan! Why aren't you helping us_!" Naruto yelled desperately hoping one of them could come to their senses.

 _"I don't care what happens to me nor my body. As long I can have my revenge, then he can have my life_ " Sasuke explained with no hesitation,

" _I'll end this quickly_ ", Sasuke said and raised his hand, but Sakura stopped him.

 _"Don't use that, Sasuke-kun. It's not worth it_ ", she said softly.

" _She's right, Sasuke. Don't use that wonderful power of yours to kill off something that doesn't deserve to die by it_ " said Orochimaru. " _Besides, he might take out Akatsuki for you, giving you a better chance to kill Itachi. Now Sakura and Sasuke, let's leave this place_."

 _"WAIT! Sasuke, Sakura-chan! Don't leave again!_ " begged Naruto.

" _Sorry, Naruto_ " whispered Sakura, before the four of them disappeared.

 _ **xXx**_

Sakura and Sasuke, along with Orochimaru and Kabuto, arrived at their new base a little while later. The ninjas-in-training found their way to their new room and walked inside. Sakura hesitated at first to enter the room, but noticed Sasuke was glaring at her. She could see that he wanted to talk to her. She sighed to herself and continued through the open doorway. As soon as Sakura closed the door, Sasuke pinned her against the wall.

" _Why did you stop me_?", asked Sasuke.

" _I- I just thought it was not worth using that Jutsu on them_ " Sakura stuttered. Trying not to blush, she avoided his eyes. " _Now, please let go_ "

" _Hn_ …" As soon as Sasuke accepted her answer and let her go, Sakura walked out of the room. She walked down the hall for a few minutes, when she was far enough from her room, she put her back against the wall and slid down to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest. Then the events which had just happened caught up to her. Naruto had found them. She hadn't seen him nor Ino for so many years. She fought against Ino and found that she became much stronger than her old friend.

Sasuke had wanted to use that Jutsu...he had wanted to kill them...but what was worse was that she totally forgot about the 'Orochimaru wanting to take Sasuke's body' part. It really was almost time for him to be able to do it. As she continued thinking, she realized that it got even worse: Sasuke told Naruto that he didn't care what will happen to him nor his body….

 _'That means he really doesn't care about me'_ she thought sadly.

" _Are you okay, Sakura-sama_?" asked a Sound Ninja A, one of the sound ninja who is working with Sakura. The one who Sakura saved back at the first hideout.

With a fake smile, Sakura answered, " _I'm okay. I just need some time alone to think, that's all"._

The ninja left, but only a few minutes had passed when someone interrupted her 'alone time'. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps coming down the corridor.

" _I told you, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. I just_ -" She stopped when she looked up to see it wasn't the sound ninja, but Kabuto. " _Sorry. I thought you were someone else."_

" _Someone else already came to check up on you_." Kabuto said as he crouched down next to her.

" _He was_ _just worried about me. He wanted to show me my new training room, but i didn't show up_." she explained.

 _"I'm jealous. You're showing your weak side to everyone_ " Kabuto said as he pushed his glasses up.

" _What do you mea_ -" Sakura was cut off when he suddenly grabbed her and yanked her up against the wall and laced chakra strings around them. Before she could say anything, she suddenly felt his lips onto hers while he pulled out a kunai and cut her shirt, revealing her bra.

The worse part of this whole thing was, was right when he kissed her, was someone standing in front of them. The one person she didn't want to see this, was standing in front of them, witnessing everything.

 ** _xXx_**

 _ **(A few minutes before the kiss**_ )

One of the sound ninjas came by the room, searching for Sakura. She hadn't show up when they wanted to show her, her new training room. Sasuke was a little pissed at him for interrupting his sleep, but let it slide when he heard Sakura didn't show up and decided to go for a walk and search for Sakura.

He continued down the hall and heard two people talking and walked to the corner. What he saw froze him; Sakura was pinned against the wall by Kabuto. His hand holding her wrist and his other hand on her waist. Her bra was showing and Kabuto was kissing her.

 _ **xXx**_

Sakura's eyes widened when she saw Sasuke standing in front of them. Kabuto was too busy to notice there was anyone else standing there. Sakura, who was already mad at Kabuto for doing this to her, but now she is furious.

Sakura used her new strength to stomp on the ground beneath Kabuto's feet. The resulting creak caused Kabuto to lose his balance. He dropped her wrist and stumbled away from her. Sakura broke it free from the Chakra strings and slammed her fist into the wall behind her, killing two birds with one stone by letting out a little frustration while giving Kabuto a warning. Kabuto saw the plaster crumbling from the hole in the wall and noticed Sakura was glaring. Then he finally noticed that Sasuke was standing in front of them.

While Kabuto was distracted by Sasuke, Sakura ran to him and slammed him into a wall, breaking a few bones. He was gone when the smoke cleared. Sakura, even more frustrated now, punched two more holes in the walls.

Sasuke tried to calm her down, but failed miserably. Once Sakura lost her temper, it would be while before she was back to normal.

" _Leave me alone_!" she yelled and started running down the hall, searching for Kabuto or anyone whom she could do a little damage to. Sasuke ran after her, grabbed her waist and wrist.

" _Go away_!" she yelled, struggling in his grasp.

" _Sakura...calm down_."

Tears started to fill Sakura's eyes as she put a hand to her lips. Kabuto kissed her. She still couldn't believe it. She wanted to find Kabuto and kill him. She focused chakra into her free fist and swung it at Sasuke.

Sasuke dodged it and grabbed her waist again. Sakura froze when she felt something warm on her lips.

* * *

 _ **~to be continued~**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!**_


	7. Showdown

**_Hii guys!_**

 ** _Question for this_** ** _chapter :_** ** _Don't you hate it when you found an amazing anime, but it doesn't have a second season? Or a third Season? Or it just stopped without giving you any explanation? Or when it ended with a huge cliffhanger and it doesn't continue?!_**

 ** _Trust me...I hate it!_**

 ** _Special thanks to my beta-reader:_** GreyHowler

 ** _Enjoy:_**

* * *

 _'What the-? Is this really happening?'_ thought Sakura. Sasuke broke the kiss for a moment and looked at Sakura. He let go of her hand and placed his own on her face. Sakura was too shocked to say anything. Her lips were slightly parted, her cheeks were turning red, and her heart was beating a million miles an hour.

" _Sasuke-kun….why did you do that?"_ she managed to say after a minute. Sasuke waited a moment to think before he answered. He couldn't figure out why he did it. He was confused by his own actions.

 _"For you to forget what Kabuto did_ " Sasuke finally said, when he came up with an excuse. Sakura was skeptical of this answer, but let it slide. It really had worked, she wasn't thinking about Kabuto's kiss anymore. Sasuke's kiss kept replaying in her mind over and over again.

Sasuke slowly let go of her waist and said, _"I need to discuss something with you"._

 _"What is it?"_ she asked.

 _"Not here. Let's go to our room"_ said Sasuke rather quickly. Sakura started walking back to their room as Sasuke stood and stared at her back. He was still wondering what the hell he was doing.

 _ **xXx**_

Kabuto healed himself while he walked back to Orochimaru's room. Orochimaru had heard all of the noise and was waiting for Kabuto to come back.

 _"My my, someone lost her temper. What did you do, Kabuto?"_ Orochimaru asked.

 _"I was just testing something"_ he answered.

 _"Tell me, Kabuto. Have you acquired feelings for your student? Don't lie to me."_ Orochimaru said as he stared at Kabuto.

 _"No, Orochimaru-sama"_ said Kabuto, a little shaken.

 _ **xXx**_

When she arrived at their room, Sakura immediately went to the bathroom to put some new clothes on-and to get away from Sasuke for a bit. She washed her face and stood at the sink for a bit before she took a deep breath and walked back to the bedroom to talk to Sasuke.

 _"What did you want to talk about?"_ Sakura asked as she sat down on her bed.

 _"I have decided that I don't need Orochimaru's teachings anymore. I'm going to take him out as soon as possible."_ Sasuke explained.

Sakura didn't expect to hear that from Sasuke. It was quite a relief to know that he really wasn't going to give up his body to Orochimaru. All those things he said to Naruto weren't true. Maybe he really did care about her and everyone in the Leaf Village…

 _"Can I take care of Kabuto?"_ Sakura asked with determination in her eyes. She wanted to pay Kabuto back for what he did to her. She wanted to destroy him using the skills he had taught her.

 _"Hn. He's all yours. It will make it easier for me to get to Orochimaru."_ Sasuke replied.

.

* * *

.

 _ **The next day**_

Sasuke and Sakura had just finished self-training. Sakura was busy in her training room, along with most of her sound ninjas, except she had sent a sound ninja to get Kabuto.

When Kabuto stepped into the room, Sakura immediately felt a shiver run up her spine. The terrible memory of that night flew right back in her head and her hatred for him began to grow again. The sound ninjas noticed the death aura Sakura was throwing around the room and they immediately left.

 _"What do you want, Sakura?"_ Kabuto asked and smiled creepily. _"More lips?"_

 _"How about….your head."_ Sakura's voice darkened and she charged toward him with a kunai.

Kabuto danced out of the way and took out his own kunai. _"You can't beat me with that, Sakura,"_ he taunted.

Sakura's attack hit the wall behind Kabuto and practically destroyed it. Sakura used the momentary dust cloud from the rubble to cover her as she ran behind Kabuto. Her punch to his kidneys sent him flying against the opposite wall, destroying it as well.

The rubble settled and silenced reigned throughout the room for a few seconds. Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and wanted to start hoping that it was over, but she knew such a man would not be defeated by simpling dropping a wall on him. Then, the small rocks around the larger boulders that once composed a wall started to shift. A few seconds more and the boulders themselves began to move aside. Kabuto emerged from the rubble laughing like a madman.

 _"Hahah. Oh, Sakura,"_ said Kabuto, still giggling every once in awhile. _"Fine, my little apprentice, I'll show you everything I got, and when I do, you will be begging me for mercy."_

Kabuto started to run at Sakura, channeling chakra to his hands. He was planning to hit her with a dissection blade, although Kabuto swung his chakra-charged hands with lightning speed, Sakura was able to nimbly dodge all his attacks. It didn't last long, however, for Kabut stopped attacking abruptly and Sakura immediately collapsed to the ground.

 _'H-how?! I dodged every attack! How did he manage to hit me?'_ thought Sakura.

Kabuto started to laugh, walked over to her and said; " _How does it feel, Sakura? How does it feel to be weak? To try so hard and always end up failing in the end?"._

Sakura looked up at him with enraged eyes, but said nothing. She needed to think of something fast, before he killed her.

" _That's what I thought,"_ Kabuto continued, " _You're nothing!"._

Kabuto raised his chakra hand and thrust it forward, aiming for Sakura's chest. Sakura closed her eyes and tried to regain control of her body. She was able to move, but was not fast enough and the attack hit her shoulder.

 _"Aaahh!"_ Sakura yelled out. She fell on the floor again and clutched at her bloodied shoulder. Kabuto walked slowly up to her and kicked her in the ribs, hard. Sakura coughed up a puddle of blood at the impact.

 _"Come on, Sakura. Is that all you've got?! After all your training?! I guess this proves what a worthless student you've been. Have you even learned anything at all during our time together? If that's the case, I suppose there's no need to keep you around any longer."_ Kabuto said and was about to finish her off, but suddenly froze in place.

 _"W-what did you do?!"_ Kabuto coughed out. He couldn't move and could hardly speak! Sakura smirked and wiped the blood from her mouth. Kabuto looked down at her and noticed that the wound on her shoulder had already healed.

 _"You can heal your wounds so quickly!? How?! When?! Only people who can-"_

 _"Who can control their chakra well can do it?"_ Sakura cut Kabuto off.

 _"I was busy healing myself while you were standing there blabbing how weak I am. As for the answer to your first question..."_ Sakura paused and showed Kabuto a senbon. The tip of the needle was dyed purple. _"A poisoned senbon to paralyze you. You lowered your guard when you kicked me. I was able to stab your foot without you even noticing,"_ she finished.

Kabuto started to curse, yell, and mock Sakura, screaming that she only got lucky this time. He just didn't pay attention. She would never beat him, NEVER.

" _You underestimated me, Kabuto. I've watched you these past two years. Learned from you. Observed you. Searched for weakness. I had private trainings to become stronger. To master new things that you did not know I could do. All of this, to defeat you one day, today."_

Sakura closed her eyes. Kabuto didn't understand what she was doing. Why did she close her eyes? He frantically racked his brain to figure out what to do next. He needed to get out of this paralyzing situation. He was pulled from his thoughts when he started to cough up blood. He first glanced at Sakura, but her eyes were still closed. Then he looked down...and saw the edge of a kanata emerging from his body. He had been stabbed right through the heart.

 _"Before you came into the room, I casted a clone jutsu. I also casted a genjutsu around the clone so you wouldn't notice it."_ Sakura explained with her eyes still closed, _"You let your guard down, Kabuto. Like I said, you underestimated me. It's over, Kabuto."_

Sakura's clone yanked the kanata out of Kabuto and disappeared in a puff of pink smoke, katana clattering noisily to the ground. Sakura slowly opened her eyes and looked Kabuto lying face down on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

She took a deep breath, picked up her kanata, and ran out of the room, leaving the trashed room and Kabuto's body behind. She needed to find Sasuke.

 _ **xXx**_

Sakura was running down the long corridor when she heard loud crash coming from the end.

 _'Sasuke must be there,_ ' she thought.

When Sakura finally reached the room where she heard the crash, she gasped at the scene before her. Sasuke was in his Cursed Seal Of Heaven's second stage staring down at the bloody corpse of a gigantic snake behind him.

' _So, this is that snake bastard his true form' thought Sakura._

She ran up to him and asked if he was okay. Sasuke, however, gave no response. He slowly deactivated his cursed state and walked out of the room with Sakura trailing after him.

 _"So now what, Sasuke?"_ Sakura asked.

" _I'm going to go after my brother, but I need to put together a team."_ he replied.

 _"Who's going to be on it?"_

 _"Jugo, Suigetsu and Karin, me and you. But if you want to leave...I won't stop you,"_ said Sasuke, stopped and looked at Sakura.

Sakura hesitated a moment to think before she answered. She thought that, after he told her that he no longer needed Orochimaru and was planning to kill him, Sasuke would return to the village. However, just the opposite happened. He wanted to take his own path and go after his brother. He even gave her permission to go back to the village if she wanted to.

Sakura took a deep breath and answered. _"I'm going with you. I made a promise to you the night we left the village; I won't leave you."_

 _"Then it's settled. We need to find the others. Let's go."_ said Sasuke and walked away.

 _'And so now, the adventure really begins._ ' thought Sakura as she followed him.

* * *

 _ **~to be continued~**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!**_


	8. Assembling a Team

_**Special thanks to my Beta-reader:**_ _ **GreyHowler**_

 _ **Enjoy:**_

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura walked through the destroyed hideout. Finally, Sasuke led her into a room she had seen before. As they entered, Sakura saw that the room was softly lit by a blue glow. The source of the glow was the liquid inside of a large glass tank placed in the middle of the room. The liquid was too thick for Sakura to see what was inside of the tank, but she could guess. Her hand clenched into a tight fist as she began to image the experiments Kabuto and Orochimaru had performed on the person who was the most probable occupant of the tank.

Sasuke walked up to the glass, took his sword and lashed the glass. He stepped back as the liquid poured out of the tube. Sakura walked up to Sasuke, looked at the pool at her feet and said;

" _Suigetsu, wake up. Quit playing dead."_

The water in the pool rippled and slowly took the shape of a man. The man stretched and said;

 _"I'm finally out. Thanks, Sasuke,_ " Suigetsu paused and looked at Sakura, " _Sakura...miss me?"_ Suigetsu asked. Sakura immediately turned away with a blush on her face.

 _"Put some damn clothes on! We are here to talk to you."_ she yelled.

 _"_ _If you_ _guys are here...Then you defeated Orochimaru, Sasuke."_ said Suigetsu, ignoring Sakura.

 _"Suigetsu, you're first. Come with us…"_ said Sasuke.

" _I'm first? What about the others?"_ he asked.

 _"Karin and Jugo._ " Sasuke answered.

" _Do we have to? I don't like Karin."_ Suigetsu complained.

 _"Karin can find out where Itachi is."_ Sasuke replied.

 _"'I just need the four of you to cooperate. You don't have to like each other,'"_ Sakura lowered her voice in an imitation of Sasuke, _"That's what you said, right, Sasuke?"_

Suigetsu opened his mouth to continue complaining, but shut it again, when he saw Sakura shaking her head; it was no use.

 _"Fine, but_ _I have a condition," s_ aid Suigetsu, crossing his arm, " _I heard rumors that you were the one who defeated my old Senpai Momochi Zabuza. I want his sword. I'll_ _only_ _join you when I have that sword."_

 _"Fine, let's go_ _._ " Sasuke agreed.

" _For the last time. Put some damn clothes on!"_ Sakura yelled and stormed out of the hideout.

 _ **xXx**_

One by one they leaped into the trees and took off in the direction of the Land Of Waves where Haku and Zabuza were buried. Three hours later, Sasuke and Sakura stopped at the front gate of the bridge.

 _"The Great Naruto Bridge, huh_ " Sakura whispered and walked across while reminiscing about the bridge's history.

Sasuke, Sakura and Suigetsu were walking down the path, when a boy ran around a corner and bumped into them. The boy blinked a few times before saying anything;

 _"Is that you, Sakura?"_ he asked.

Recognizing this voice, Sakura stared harder at the boy and realized that the pre-teen in front of them was Inari. Inari began chattering at them, telling how happy he was to see Sakura and Sasuke again and commenting on Sakura's appearance, calling her beautiful.

" _Oh, thank you, Inari."_ she said, blushing.

 _"Where is Naruto?"_ Inari asked, having not yet been aware of their defection.

Sasuke stared at Sakura, who stayed quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to tell him. With a forced smile, Sakura told Inari that they and Naruto had had a fight and that he was ordered to stay in the village to cool off, while she and Sasuke went on a mission. Satisfied with her explanation, Inari soon left and the trio continued down the path.

 _"That was a good lie."_ said Suigetsu.

 _"Hn, he'll blab_ _to someone sooner or later."_ said Sasuke.

 _"Yeah, but it could be awhile before_ _then,_ _"_ Sakura answered and looked around before she continued, _"I'll wait outside the village for you guys. My pink hair draws too much attention."_

Sasuke and Suigetsu continued further toward the cliff where Haku and Zabuza were buried while Sakura searched for someplace to wait for them. The sword had been left sticking out of the ground at the head of the graves.

Suigetsu wasted no time in pulling the sword out and giving it an experimental wave. He grinned as he realized this was the sword he was looking for and turned around to head back down the mountain with Sasuke.

 _ **xXx**_

Sakura sat on a tree branch, waiting for Sasuke and Suigetsu to return. She was quite happy to see Inari. With how tall he had become, she almost didn't recognized him. She was also happy with how beautiful the village had become. No one was scared or depressed now and the village was quite different from when she first came here with Team Seven.

Sasuke and Suigetsu arrived only a few minutes after Sakura sat down in the tree.

" _We're back_ ," said Suigetsu, _"So we find Karin next?"_

Sakura and Suigetsu both sighed when Sasuke nodded and headed towards the southern hideout. They traveled about four hours until it began to get dark. Then set up a camp. Suigetsu went to find some water and food, while Sakura searched for a few bundles of wood and Sasuke sat and waited.

" _How have you been since the last time I saw you?"_ Suigetsu asked. Sakura however, shook it off, pretending she didn't know what he was talking about.

 _"You know",_ Suigetsu continued, " _A_ _few months ago. You came by with Kabuto. You fainted when he injected you with something."_

 _"Shut up!"_ Sakura yelled with annoyed exasperation and walked back to the camp with her bundles of wood.

After a few minutes, Suigetsu also walked back to the camp with food and water for everyone. Silence fell over the group as Sasuke was naturally quiet and Sakura didn't feel like saying anything to anyone. Sakura soon lay down and stared at the stars for a while before she fell asleep. Suigetsu sighed and stared at the fire

 _"I'm going to miss this peace and quiet…"_ he complained.

* * *

 _ **The next day**_

They reached the base within a few hours. When they walked inside, they noticed Karin was waiting for them.

 _"I knew it_ ," said Karin, _"You're alone._ _That means_ _, the rumors are true. Orochimaru is dead."_

 _"We're here too, you know._ " said Suigetsu.

 _"What are THEY doing here, Sasuke-kun"_ Karin asked while pointing at Suigetsu and giving Sakura a death glare.

 _"I'm forming a team to go after my brother and_ _I want you to be part of it._ _"_ Sasuke replied.

 _"I'm flattered you need me, but why are they-"_

 _"You know what?!"_ Sakura cut Karin off, _"Sasuke, do what you must do. You want her that bad, go ahead and try to convince her._ _I_ _n the meantime, I have something better to do. Come with me, Suigetsu."_

 _"Where are you goi-"_

 _"None of your damn business"_ Sakura cut Karin off once again and walked away. Suigetsu followed her, and Sasuke just stared at her back.

 _ **xXx**_

Sakura walked down the hall a little way and entered one of the doors. Suigetsu followed and stopped in the doorway when he saw several jail cells full of people. They let out cried of joy when they saw Sakura;

 _"You're here!"_ said one of them.

 _"I promised you, I would get you out."_ said Sakura. The cells were locked with the key nowhere in sight, but that didn't stop Sakura. Truthfully, she was glad because she could use this as a way to vent her anger. She order everyone to back away from the doors and, one by one, kicked each one down.

 _"Don't make Sakura mad. You will regret it_ " said Suigetsu as he watched Sakura breaking the cells open. When everyone was out, Suigetsu ordered them to spread the rumor that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru as a favor of freeing them.

When all the prisoners had left, Sakura and Suigetsu began scouting out the hideout.

 _"You promised them?"_ Suigetsu asked out of curiosity.

 _"I went to Orochimaru with Sasuke for power,_ _but_ _that doesn't mean I liked him. I hated that snake bastard and his experiments on people."_ Sakura explained.

Suigetsu nodded and they continued through the hideout in silence, searching for Sasuke and Karin. Finally they came to a door behind which they heard voices, but it was locked from the inside

 _"Ugly is planning something_ " said Suigetsu. This made Sakura's mood even worse.

 _ **xXx**_

 _ **W**_ _ **ith Karin and Sasuke**_

Karin dragged Sasuke to a couch and sat with him.

 _"So, Sasuke-kun. Why do you want me to join?"_ Karin asked while she took off her glasses and placed on the table.

 _"I need you to find Itachi for me, so I can get my revenge"_ he answered blandly.

 _"I'll join you...but is that all you need me to do. Don't you want something else?"_ Karin started moving closer to Sasuke.

 _"Get off me now, Karin._ " Sasuke demanded.

 _"Why?"_ Karin asked and moved even closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He sighed when the door suddenly flew past Sasuke's face. Karin was shocked, but Sasuke, however was, unamused. Sakura was standing in the gap and looked angrier than before. She glared at Karin, who immediately jumped off the couch while Sasuke smirked.

 _"I told you to get off._ " said Sasuke.

"W-what?! Why do you even need me?!" Karin looked at Sasuke.

" _I also want to know the reason,"_ Sakura mumbled and looked at Sasuke, _"Can we just leave already? I have already released the prisoners and clearly Karin doesn't want to join us."_

 _"You did what!? You can't just-"_

 _"I can release the prisoner and I just did."_ Sakura cut Karin off and gave her another death glare.

 _"Sakura, you guys working together will make it faster and easier to find Itachi. And Karin agreed to join us."_ Sasuke replied.

 _"Great….she's joining…"_ Suigetsu sighed.

They walked out of the hideout and began their journey to the next hideout to recruit Jugo. The whole way, Suigetsu and Karin kept bickering with each other. Sakura looked at them and shout at them to shut up. They would immediately quiet down, at least while Sakura was still glaring at them. They reminded her of how Sasuke and Naruto fought before Sasuke changed and left the village.

They traveled for about four hours until it got dark and then started to set up camp. Suigetsu and Sakura left to find some water, food and Karin stayed behind with Sasuke, looking for every moment to flirt with him without Sakura or Suigetsu around.

 _ **xXx**_

 _ **With**_ _ **Sakura and Suigetsu ; **_

_"Back there, you told me, you hated Orochimaru. Why?"_ Suigetsu asked.

" _Why did I tell you or why do I hate Orochimaru?_ Asked Sakura, trying to lighten the mood a little. It didn't work; Suigetsu just glared at her.

She sighed and answered; _"I didn't join Orochimaru just to gain power, I_ _joined_ _for Sasuke. I never wanted to leave the village;_ _or_ _betray my friends, Lady Tsunade and my family. I actually never wanted Sasuke to leave in the first place, but nothing I did or said changed his mind. He was still determined to join Orochimaru_ _in order to gain_ _power to achieve his goal."_ Sakura started to explain. She stared up at the sky as she continued;

" _In fact, Sasuke thought I was annoying, maybe he still does. He hated me back then_ _, but when I think about how naïve and stupid I used to be, I also hate myself._ _I only thought about Sasuke and how to impress him."_

Suigetsu stared at her. He didn't know what to say. He wanted to ask how she was able to join Sasuke, but she had already guessed that he would and continued;

 _"I didn't want to lose him. Staying close to him might help me change his mind, or prevent him for walking to an even darker path._ _Gaining more power would also help me stop him from doing something he would regret._ _  
So….I decided to join the one person I hated the most. The one person who's fault it was for Sasuke leaving the village._ _When they asked me why I wanted to come with them,_ _I told_ _them_ _only the_ _second_ _reason;_ _that I wanted more power. If I told them the whole truth,_ _Sasuke would have hated me even more for thinking he was just a child that I needed to protect and_ _Orochimaru would have killed me to keep Sasuke in his clutches._ _If I had lived, Sasuke would have hated me even more for thinking he was just a child that I needed to protect._

 _"Orochimaru wanted to take Sasuke's body"_ said Suigetsu.

 _"I was hoping Sasuke would do something about it. I mean, he wants to have his revenge. How was he going to do that if he dies? But after he killed Orochimaru, I thought to myself, maybe he'll go back to the village…...I thought wrong. But no matter what, I'll stay by his side. I promised that to him and to myself."_

 _"Why would you do all that just for him? Betray your village, your friends and even your family?"_ Suigetsu asked.

 _"I love him, Suigetsu,"_ Sakura stared hard at Suigetsu and continued, _"Yes, it might sound stupid, but it's true; I love him."_

 _"But Sasuke is only thinking about revenge,_ _not you._ _"_ Suigetsu replied.

 _"I know and I'll wait for him. No matter what he did_ _or_ _what he'll do, I'll always love him. Even if I have to suffer, my love for him will never change."_ said Sakura.

 _"Do you regret betraying your village?"_ Suigetsu asked.

" _At first, yes…but not anymore,_ " She started to walk back to the camp, but stopped for a moment and said; _"Don't mention any of this to Sasuke. And this is the first and last time I'll talk about my feelings!"_

Before arriving at the camp, Sakura took a deep breath. She mustn't be emotional around Sasuke. He was finally acting less coldly towards her and she would like to keep it that way.

 _ **xXx**_

When she arrived, Sakura saw Sasuke was impatiently waiting for them to return. From the looks of it, Karin had taken advantage of being alone with Sasuke and kept bugging him. Clearly Sasuke was annoyed by it.

 _"You're late..."_ said Sasuke as he stood up and jumped to a tree branch to get some rest from Karin and her annoying flirting.

 _"Yeah, I was lazy."_ Suigetsu shrugged.

 _"Like always._ " Karin replied.

 _"Hm."_ Suigetsu wasn't in the mood for her, so he just ignored her, sat under a tree and stared at the camp fire.

 _"Why do you need Jugo, Sasuke-kun? Going inside the North Hideout is suicide. We'll all be dead in seconds. It's nothing but a nest of horrible unnatural monsters."_ said Karin after a moment of silence.

 _"Jugo isn't that bad. He doesn't like to fight, but he can't help it. Besides, Sasuke thinks he can control Jugo._ " Sakura replied.

 _"How do you know that he doesn't like to fight?"_ Sasuke asked.

 _"We were with Orochimaru for three years. Of course I would know about all types_ _h_ _ideout Orochimaru has and all that kind of thing. Besides, I was travelling with Kabuto. He told me about Jugo_ " Sakura answered and continued, _"I know for a fact that the curse mark, our curse mark…_ _Well,_ _Jugo is its origin."_

She stood up and jumped on a tree branch and sat next to Sasuke. _"Where do we go after we recruit Jugo?"_

 _"We'll see after we get him,"_ he answered, _We move out tomorrow at d_ _awn._ _"_

Sakura nodded, jumped back down to the ground to take the first watch.

* * *

The next morning, everyone packed up their stuff and took off. And once again Karin and Suigetsu's bickering went on for hours. They stopped a few times for Suigetsu who kept complaining about wanting to take a break. The sword was too heavy for him and was why he tired quickly. Karin suggested he should leave the sword behind, but he refused to listen to her.

Around noon, they've reached the Northern hideout and saw a man lying on the ground in front of the entrance.

Sakura ran up to him and began to heal him, _"What happened?"_ she asked.

 _"U….Uchiha Sasuke..? Please….Save us_ _." The man croaked out, grasping at Sakura in a daze, before he laid back and let out his last breath._

 _"Oops….he's dead._ " said Suigetsu.

Suddenly another man with a level two curse mark, jumped down and attacked. The group scattered in all directions to avoid the blow.

" _What the hell is that thing?!"_ Suigetsu asked.

 _"A Level two curse seal._ " Karin answered.

Before anyone else could move, Sasuke put on a burst of speed and sliced open the enemy's stomach in one wipe. Their attacker fell to the ground as Sasuke turned back to his companions.

" _That's the North Hideout, up there. Hurry up and find Jugo."_ _He said._

When they walked into the base, they saw the floor littered with bodies and blood soaking into the walls and ceiling. Sakura found a set of keys on one of the men near the entrance and picked them up. The group kept on walking, following Karin, until they arrived at a large metal door.

" _Here?"_ Sasuke asked.

 _"Yeah, Jugo's inside._ " Karin replied.

Sakura put the key in the keyhole and unlocked the door. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

She suddenly heard someone screaming; _"BINGO! I'LL KILL A WOMAN!"_  
And saw a shape running towards her.

Sasuke dashed in front of Sakura and steeled himself for the blow. Instantly the wall next to the group was crushed. Jugo had slammed Sasuke against the wall, but Sasuke had activated his second level curse seal; One of his wings blocked Jugo's attack and pushed him away from Sasuke.

 _"Jugo, stop!"_ Sakura yelled.

 _"I have no intention of fighting, I just want to talk to you, Jugo._ " said Sasuke, but nothing had changed.

Jugo began to approach Sasuke again, but this time Suigetsu stopped it with his sword. Suigetsu and Jugo smirked at each other and began to fight in earnest.

 _"Stop it, both of you."_ said Sasuke.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She rushed between them as they parted in preparation for another blow. She stood between them and raised her hands the either side to form a barrier between Suigetsu and Jugo.

 _"STOP!"_ she yelled.

 _'Good! All three of them can die!"_ thought Karin, overjoyed at this development in the fight.

They couldn't stop, however, and were about to hit Sakura. Sasuke dashed in front of Sakura and summoned two snakes to stop them.

 _"You two...Do you want me to kill you?"_ Sasuke's voice darkened and activated his Sharingan.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and she suddenly had a deja-vu feeling; this had happened before. She slowly looked at the two boys, they'd stopped fighting each other and were now only glaring. That's when she suddenly remembered;

Sakura had done the same thing, back when she and Sasuke were still in the village. It was actually the same day, they left the village. It was morning….Sasuke and Naruto were fighting each other. She couldn't do anything, but just stand there and watch them fight. However, when the fight got out of hand, she jumped between them and begged them to stop. They also couldn't stop and were about to hit her. Luckily her sensei, Kakashi was on time to deflect their attacks and send them crashing into the water tower.

Sakura looked at her hands. This was the exact situation. After all this time, after all the training with Kabuto, Orochimaru and Sasuke…. After everything she had done….

 _'How did I still end up here? Just like then, couldn't do anything but to stand between them and let first Kakashi and now Sasuke save me…..I'm pathetic'_ thought Sakura with a saddened expression.

Suigetsu and Jugo shakenly kept staring at Sasuke while the snakes slowly released them and slithered back into his shirt.

Jugo's cursed seal slowly started to recede. When it was completely receded, he looked at Sakura.

" _S...Sakura_?" he whispered.

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Jugo. She was glad he was back to normal.

 _"I almost hurt you...or even worse, killed you_." he whispered. He started to scream, ran back towards his cell and shut the door. " _Hurry up and lock the door! I don't want to kill any more people!"_ he continued yelling.

 _"Jugo, I came here to take you out of here. Come with me_." Sasuke replied.

 _"Such a split personality_." said Suigetsu.

 _"That's Jugo. He is driven by an intent to kill. He doesn't want to kill, but he can't control himself._ " Karin explained.

" _Please come out..._ " asked Sakura softly.

 _"Orochimaru is dead. I need you to come with me. If you try to kill anyone, I'll stop you._ " said Sasuke.

" _The only person who could calm me, was Kimimaro._ " Jugo replied.

" _Kimimaro?_ " Sakura looked at Sasuke. She had heard that name before.

 _"Jugo...Kimimaro is dead. He died fighting for my sake."_ said Sasuke.

That's when Jugo realized whom he was talking to. The last time he had spoken to Kimimaro, was when Kimimaro told him that he had to go and protect Sasuke.

Jugo slowly stood up and walked out of his cell. " _I'll join you. Kimimaro sacrificed his life to protect you. I need to see for myself how strong of a shinobi you are_."

He looked at Sakura and apologized to her. " _It's okay. It's in the past._ " she replied.

" _Then it's settled_ " said Sasuke and they all started to head outside of the base. However, Sasuke stopped Sakura for a minute to talk to her in private.

" _What's wrong, Sasuke?"_ she asked.

 _"Never do that again….jumping between them_ " he paused,

For a minute, Sakura had completely forgotten about that. She wanted to say something, but was too distraught.

" _It's annoying_." he finished and walked away.

Sakura stared at his back. She felt to her knees and kept staring at his back until she couldn't see him anymore. She started to laugh softly like a crazy person until a tear started to run down her cheeks;

 _"I haven't changed…..."_

* * *

 ** _xXx_**

 ** _~To Be Continued~_**

 ** _Review! Follow! Favorite! And Stay Awesome!_**


	9. On The Move

_**Welcome and enjoy!:**_

 _ **Question for this chapter: How do you like Boruto so far?**_

 ** _Special thanks to my Beta-Reader:_** GreyHowler

* * *

Sasuke walked out of the hideout and saw his group was waiting for him and Sakura. Karin looked frustrated about the fact that they were alone.

" _Where is Sakura?"_ Suigetsu asked. Sasuke didn't respond and continued walking. A few seconds later Sakura walked out. Sakura joined the rest of the group and Sasuke turned to them;

" _From now on, we five move as one and our group will be known as Hebi. Hebi has only one purpose,"_ he paused, _"Finding, Uchiha Itachi."_

Sasuke turned away from the trees and said; "Follow me."

He had somewhere he wanted to go. Suigetsu noticed Sakura was falling behind. He knew she could keep up with them, so she must have been purposely avoiding them. He lowered his speed to fall in line next to her and asked if she was okay.

" _I'm fine…Just thinking."_ She said shortly and sped up to catch the rest of the group.

.

Night came and the team stopped to rest and set up the camp. It was really quiet. Jugo was sitting under a tree staring at the stars. Suigetsu was exhausted from all the traveling and carrying his sword and was lying on the grass not far away from the fire. Sasuke was, as usual, quiet, brooding about something or other. Karin kept staring at Sasuke and day dreaming of him making a move on her. Sakura sat on a tree branch, thinking.

The peace and quiet didn't last long. After a while Karin and Suigetsu began bickering with each other. Sakura wasn't in the mood for this and yelled at them to shut up.

" _Hmpf, don't tell me what to do."_ said Karin. Suigetsu noticed Sakura's mood and decided to stay quiet. Sasuke also noticed but said nothing.

" _Sasuke, why did you bring her with you? You only needed me right?"_ Karin asked and looked at Sasuke.

" _Can you please stop flirting, it's annoying. He doesn't like it, we don't like it and most of all no one likes you!"_ Sakura said as she stood up on the tree branch.

" _How do you know what he likes and doesn't like? You're just jealous that I'm more of a use than y-"_

Before Karin could finished her sentence, Sakura had appeared in front of her and was pressing Karin's throat against a tree.

" _Finish that sentence, I dare you. One little warning, before you do, thought. I am strong. In fact I'm stronger than you. I haven't done anything to you until now, because Sasuke asked me to behave. But I'm not in the mood right now. You can flirt all you want for all I care, but not here and especially not now. I can finish you so fast that you won't be able to say your last words."_ Sakura growled, squeezing the girl's neck tighter as she spoke.

Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand and demanded her to let go of Karin. Sakura first glared at him, then sighed and let go. She started to walk away from the camp site, but Sasuke continued to hold her wrist, preventing her from moving.

" _What do you want now, Sasuke?"_ she asked, but refused to look at him.

" _Your temper needs to die down and I-"_

"Right now, you can't calm me down. You might maybe the only one who can calm me down when I've lost my temper….but right now…..you need to let me go, before I do something you don't want me to" she threatened and glared into his eyes, showing she wasn't lying.

She walked away, the moment he let go of her wrist. Suigetsu ran to catch up with Sakura and asked her what was wrong. She was silent for a few seconds before she spoke.

" _I'm weak…"_ her voice was trembling out of frustration. She began to walk faster when Suigetsu also sped up, she yelled, "Don't follow me!"

Suigetsu stopped suddenly, mildly surprised at her outburst and watched her walk through the trees and out of sight.

" _What did you do?"_ Suigetsu asked, when he noticed Sasuke presence. Sasuke had come up behind them and was silently standing behind Suigetsu.

" _It's none of your business what I do."_ he answered.

Suigetsu started to laugh, _"You really need to learn how to love someone."_

" _I lost that feeling long ago, Suigetsu."_ Sasuke replied.

" _I feel bad for Sakura,"_ Suigetsu whispered. He sighed then said; _"Look, just be nice to her and protect her."_ and walked back to the campsite.

Sasuke suddenly heard a tree crashing about 200 feet away from them. It must be Sakura letting her frustration out.

' _That's what I've been doing.'_ thought Sasuke.

* * *

 _ **The next morning**_

Everyone was already up and ready to leave bright and early. Sakura walked out of the trees and up to the group, trying to greet them normally. She had stayed all night in the forest away from the camp site to release her stress; she had made firewood out of quite few trees. After finally calming down, she had decided to not to return to the campsite and slept on a tree branch.

Sakura noticed Jugo was acting a little distant towards her. He was still feeling guilty for what happened in the past. She walked up to him and said;

" _Jugo, you don't have to beat yourself up. I already told you, it's in the past."_

" _But….I attacked you when you visited me with Kabuto. I broke your ribs and almost killed you. Kabuto had to drag you out of the room…and yesterday, I almost attacked you again…"_ The guilt was eating him up so badly, he was almost in tears,

" _It's okay, Jugo. You weren't yourself. Besides, it was part of my training."_ Sakura reassured him.

Jugo nodded sadly and wandered off to continue packing his stuff. Sasuke had walked up to the pair while they were talking and had overheard their conversation. He confronted Sakura about it.

" _You didn't tell me Jugo attacked you, Sakura."_

" _Well, now you know…"_ Sakura replied.

" _Why didn't you tell me?"_

" _Why should I tell you anything?"_ Sakura lashed out and glared at Sasuke, _"Just keep your nose out of my business. It's none of your concern."_

Sasuke stared thoughtlessly at Sakura when she jumped on a tree branch to wait, ending the conversation.

' _Sorry Sasuke, but payback's a bitch. I remember that night, before I pleaded to join Orochimaru with you. Before I begged you to stay, before I confessed my love for you. I had a bad feeling and I waited there to see if my feelings were correct. You were walking towards the Leaf Village gate. I asked you, why you wouldn't tell my anything….why it was always silence with you….You said the exact same thing I just said to you…'_ thought Sakura.

" _Well, someone is still mad at you."_ Suigetsu whispered.

Suigetsu immediately backed away when Sasuke turned his glare to him. Sasuke sighed, leapt up to a branch and dashed away, not looking to see if anyone was following.

.

They traveled for several more hours before the forest began to thin and another hour brought them to an abrupt end of the trees and the beginning of a very bleak, very brown desert. As far as they could see, there was nothing but sand, sand, and more sand; one dune after the next stretched in every direction except the one they had come from. Sakura cringed slightly at the thought of the stuff in her clothes. Even after they had left the desert, she knew it take several days of washing for her things to be rid of every single grain of the wretched stuff.

" _Let's take a break already,"_ Suigetsu complained.

" _Keep complaining and dragging your feet like this and we're never going to make it there!"_ Karin yelled at him.

" _Why don't you shut up."_ Suigetsu replied.

" _Why, you water monster!-"_

" _Enough! We are here"_ Sasuke cut Karin off and ended their argument.

Sakura wasn't in the mood for them and stayed quiet. She looked around the desert again and realized that there was a city, hazy in the scorching sun, just within her sight. She gave a silent sigh of relief; they could probably make it to the buildings by sundown, assuming what she saw wasn't a mirage.

They took a small break and drank their fill from a nearby stream before plunging into the hot ecosystem. The soft sand sank under their feet, making it very difficult to walk and nearly impossible to run. In fact, what they were doing resembled trudging more than walking, but after a couple hours, Sakura would have had no problems with _crawling_ if it would have helped them get to the destination faster. It was so hot and her throat had been gradually getting drier as they walked. None of them had spoken for a while now, although Sakura could hear their panting breaths creating a monotonous beat with the sound of their footsteps.

Sakura soon gave up any attempt at keeping track of time or distance, but the sun was falling closer and closer to the horizon and the sand as well as the air was slowly becoming cooler. Her throat was still dry, but when she no longer felt the harsh sun on her face, she chanced a glance up where she had been staring at her feet.

She nearly cried out in relief when she saw that the city was closer than she could have hoped. Another half-hour and they had reached the first cobblestones of the one of the perimeter buildings. They walked through the city with renewed vigor and followed Sasuke as he led them to a well in the town square. They drew up buckets of cool water and drank their fill.

The sun set while they were drinking and heat radiated from the cobblestones, but the heat was not harsh like the sun. Instead, it balanced out the cooling air, which was quickly becoming cold without the sun to warm it.

Sakura had just taken her last sip from the water bucket when she heard Sasuke break the silence.

" _Come,"_ he said and they followed him deeper into the maze of buildings.

.

They walked through the dark city, until they saw an entrance at the base of one building with stairs that led down to an even darker tunnel. Suigetsu thoughts this arrangement rather sketchy, but said nothing.

" _A hideout in an abandoned city. I never heard of it."_ said Suigetsu, his voice echoing off the walls of the stone tunnel.

" _This isn't Orochimaru's._ _The_ _Uchiha clan_ _used to store munitions here."_ Sasuke explained.

They looked behind them when they suddenly heard a noise. Two cats were standing behind them

" _It's been a long time Denka, Hina."_ Sasuke greeted.

" _Well, if it isn't our Sasuke boy."_ said Denka.

" _What can we do for you, meow?"_ Hina meowed.

" _We need weapons and medicine as well as some others supplies for our battle."_ Sasuke answered.

" _Are those..."_

" _Talking cats"_ Suigetsu finished Karin's sentence as he approached Denka. He tried to pet Denka, but immediately pulled his hand away when Denka hissed at him. Sakura giggled softly at Suigetsu's reaction.

" _They are ninja cats. Be careful and respectful or they'll rip you apart."_ Sasuke explained.

" _Did you bring us a present?"_ Hina asked.

Sasuke turned to Sakura and held out his hand. Sakura reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of what looked like to be catnip and handed it to Sasuke.

" _Here, a bottle of catnip for you."_

Hina jumped up and grabbed it from Sasuke's hand.

" _It's my favorite, meow."_ Hina thanked.

" _Follow me and I'll take you to granny cat."_ Denka said and walked past them.

The team entered a room where they saw a woman sitting in the middle of the room on a carpet with cats all around her. The woman greeted them and introduced herself as Nekobaa, the granny cat. She told them to take a look around and ask for what they needed.

Sakura greeted Nekobaa politely, bowed and asked if granny cat had some clothes for her. Nekobaa called a girl to come to the room.

The girl ran into the room and greeted everyone. She had long brown hair reaching below her waist and hazel eyes. She wore a sleeveless red blouse, light-colored pants, fishnet stockings and sandals. She also had bandages wrapped around her upper left hand

" _This is my granddaughter, Tamaki. She'll help you with clothes."_

Sakura followed Tamaki into another room, leaving Suigetsu playing with one of the normal cats, and Karin leaning against a wall, while Jugo looked at the supplies and Sasuke walked into a different room filled with weapons.

.

In her room, Sakura changed into a red, hooded short-sleeve top, black fingerless gloves, low-heeled, knee-high black boots , and black shorts. To complete the outfit, she wrapped a red shawl around her hips.

' _This way I can hide my pink hair by putting on the hood when we get to a village.'_ thought Sakura as she looked at herself in the mirror. Tamaki handed Sakura a black cloak, which Sakura thanked her for and led the way back to granny cat's room.

" _Sakura, you look hot!"_ Suigetsu complimented her. Sakura giggled softly with a blush before thanking him. Karin just glared.

Jugo went next to change his clothes, Karin snuck into the room where Sasuke was, and Suigetsu continued playing with the normal cats. Sakura sat down and waited for the others to finish. She noticed Denka was sitting next to her feet and slowly patted his head.

" _Denka likes you? That's very interesting. He doesn't really like to be petted by anyone, human or cat"_ Nekobaa spoke.

Sakura smiled as she continued petting Denka _, "He seems to be enjoying it very much."_

" _What's your name dear?"_ Nekobaa asked.

" _Haruno, Haruno Sakura."_ she answered and looked up at her.

" _That is a very fitting name for you, dear"_ Nekobaa complemented.

" _Thank you very much, ma'am."_

" _How do you know Sasuke?"_ Nekobaa asked.

" _We used to go to the same academy when we were kids at the Leaf Village. We also used to be in the same Genin Team,"_ Sakura answered.

Denka jumped up and ran towards a shelf of books. He picked up a black book up, ran back to Sakura and dropped it in her lap. Her eyes widened the moment she opened the book; there was a pictured of a young Sasuke holding a cat with young Itachi standing next to him.

" _They looked so happy."_ Sakura whispered.

" _Itachi would usually visit me for errand he had to run and Sasuke would tag along with him every time. Sasuke always got bored and gave Itachi a hard time so Itachi created a game; Sasuke was to collect paw prints from the fast and nimble cats,"_ Nekobaa explained _, "I've known them since they were wee little things. I can't believe it's come to this...They used to love each other so dearly, but now...they are the only two remaining Uchiha and yet they must kill each other..."_

Sakura stared emotionless at the pictures while listening Nekobaa's story. She couldn't understand it. They looked so happy in the picture. You could even see the love between them. She couldn't imagine the same boy who made up a game for his own little brother, was the same boy who murdered his own clan, his own parents. The strong love they had was gone, just like that. Now there was only hatred and the desire to kill each other...

Suigetsu overheard everything, but stayed quiet and continued petting the cats. Jugo broke the heavy silence when he came out of the changing room. Nothing was able to fit Jugo, so he had decided to use a curtain. He called out Suigetsu and told him that Tamaki wanted him to go in next.

" _I don't need any new clothes, just a cloak."_ Suigetsu said as he entered the room.

Sakura slowly closed the book and put it on the ground, "Ma'am do you have any medical supplies?"

" _Yes, in the room where Sasuke and the red hair girl are. There are some books, herbs and tools in the corner of the room. You can take whatever you like"_ Nekobaa answered.

After thanking her, Sakura got up and went into the room. She saw Karin throwing herself on Sasuke, who ignored every attempt she made. She noticed some herbs and medical supplies on a table. She walked past them and observed the table.

" _Leave…"_ Sasuke demanded and looked at Karin.

"But-"

" _Now…"_ Sasuke cut Karin off.

" _Fine!"_ Karin yelled and marched out of the room.

" _You used to come here a lot, huh…"_ Sakura tried to start a conversation.

" _Granny cat told you..."_

" _Yeah, she also showed me a picture of you and…"_ Sakura paused. She hesitated first but said it anyway, _"You used to be really happy back then..."_

There was a moment of silence before Sasuke responded, but he changed the subject instead, _"I see you've changed your clothes."_

" _I can move freely in this and I can put up my hood in case were are walking through a crowded village to hide my pink hair."_ Sakura answered.

" _Take whatever you think is necessary for your medical stash."_ Sasuke advised and walked out of the room.

' _Changing the subject, huh...It's still painful for him to talk about the past. He must've really loved and looked up to his brother...Itachi...why?_ ' thought Sakura.

.

After taking everything she needed, Sakura walked back to the main room where everyone was waiting for her.

" _We'll be going now. Thanks for all your help."_ Sasuke spoke and gave her some money.

Sasuke walked with his team out of the room. Sakura bowed to Nekobaa and thanked her. She turned around to walk out of the room, but Denka and Hina stood in front of the entrance to stop her from leaving. Sakura stared, confused at the two cats. She turned back to Nekobaa when she saw that Tamaki had entered the room with a big scroll and had handed it to Nekobaa. Nekobaa stood up, took the scroll and handed it to Sakura,

" _It's a summoning scroll"_ she spoke, _"Denka and Hina wants to work with you. You can summon them when you want to see them and when you need their help. But in order to summon Denka and Hina, you must first sign a contract."_

" _You guys want to work with me?"_ Sakura asked and looked at the two cats.

" _Yeah, meow"_ Hina replied.

" _Normally, we don't like to be summoned by anybody, but we like you and trust you. We can help when you and Sasuke are in danger."_ Denka explained.

Sakura happily nodded and signed the contract. She used her own blood to sign her name and placed her fingerprints on the scroll.

" _Take care of him."_ Nekobaa and Tamaki both requested at the same time.

" _I will."_ Sakura replied and walked out of the room.

" _She's a good girl."_ said Denka.

" _Indeed she is."_ Nekobaa replied.

 _ **xXx**_

When she finally made it out of the tunnels and back in the abandoned city, Sakura saw everyone was waiting for her.

" _Sakura, are you okay?"_ Suigetsu asked and looked at her bloodied finger.

Sakura looked at her finger. She had forgotten to heal it after she signed the contract.

" _I'm okay."_ she replied and healed her finger.

" _What? One of the cats didn't like you and bit you, right?"_ Karin mocked Sakura.

" _No, she signed a contract with them"_ Sasuke replied back to Karin for Sakura. Everyone looked stunned at Sakura when she nodded that he was right.

" _Hmpf!"_ said Karin

" _Cool!"_ Suigetsu yelled.

" _They must have really liked you. Normally they don't like to be bound and summoned by a human"_ said Sasuke. Sakura blushed a little after hearing all that.

" _Let's go."_ said Sasuke.

* * *

 _ **xXx**_

* * *

 _ **~To Be Continued~**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome!**_


	10. Sakura vs Sasori Part 1

_**Welcome and enjoy!:**_

 ** _Special thanks to my Beta-Reader:_** GreyHowler

* * *

Sasuke and his team were walking through the woods. Suigetsu and Jugo had left the group earlier to gather information on Akatsuki. As they neared another village, Sakura was about to leave too, but froze when she sensed a familiar presence. Sasuke first looked at her, then slowly turned to face the same direction she was staring at and wondered what was wrong.

" _Say, Karin…"_ she spoke without making eye contact, _"I need you to confirm that there is someone up a head…"_ She pointed in the direction she was staring at.

Karin wanted to protest, but did as Sakura requested when Sasuke looked at her, waiting for her answer. Karin focused on the direction Sakura pointed at and did sense someone, but that person was not alone. She sensed two people.

Satisfied with her answer, Sakura began to smile. Her bloodlust showed all over her face as she slowly activated her curse mark. Sasuke noticed her and asked Karin who the strangers were.

" _They are from Akatsuki. Itachi is not one of them."_ Sakura answered his question.

" _We can use this to find Ita-"_

" _Don't get in my way, Karin!"_ Sakura yelled and glared at Karin. Her curse began to spread to her face. She looked at Sasuke and continued,

" _I know you can use them to find Itachi, but don't get in my way. You remember what I told you and Orochimaru in the beginning when I joined you that I'm looking for a certain someone…"_ she finished before dashing towards the two Akatsuki.

* * *

Before Sasuke followed her, he ordered Karin to go and gather information about Itachi. When he caught up to Sakura, he saw the guy on the left had very long blond hair which he wore with the front drawn into a half ponytail and left the rest to hang down freely. He wore the Akatsuki cloak with navy blue pants with matching shinobi sandals. The second guy had mousy red hair with the same clothes; Akatsuki cloak with pants and matching shinobi sandals.

" _My, my, saved me the trouble to look for you or the nine-tail brat, Uchiha."_ the blonde, Deidara spoke.

" _Hmpf, I see you didn't replace your previous puppet to disguise yourself, Sasori."_ Sakura spoke and looked at the red haired guy.

" _Sasori my man, who is she?"_ Deidara asked.

" _It's that Leaf brat who destroyed my puppet, Hiruko. I'm impressed you're still alive. My poison should have killed you."_ said Sasori.

Much to Sasuke's surprise, Sakura didn't deny it,

" _Heh, former Leaf brat. Yeah, your poison should have killed me and it almost did. The only reason I'm standing right in front of you, is because I had to inject myself with lots of different medicine. Once I recovered enough, I studied and researched all kinds of poisons and figured out that you made the poison yourself. I've waited patiently for this moment, to kill you and take enough of your poison to make the antidote that will fully cure me."_

" _What makes you think you can make an antidote?"_ Sasori asked.

" _Heheh, oh, I can."_ Sakura answered and smirk.

" _Hmpf, you should have killed her…"_ Deidara spoke.

" _Shut up."_ Sasori replied.

" _Sasuke, I'll be fine. Leave and let me fight this guy alone,"_ Sakura whispered, _"Blondie wants to fight you. I'm sure he'll follow you. You can ask him where Itachi is…"_

Sasuke nodded and left Sakura to her own devices. Just as Sakura predicted, Deidara immediately followed Sasuke.

" _First I had to fight that nine-tail brat, now this…"_ Sasori complained.

Sakura's eyes widened, but she stayed silent while her curse mark began to spread more until it covered her whole body.

' _Naruto….'_ Thought Sakura.

Not wanting to underestimate her a second time, Sasori summoned his human puppet, the Third Kazekage.

" _I made the Third Kazekage into a puppet, a human puppet. I have done the same to 297 other people and you will be my 298_ _th_ _."_ Sasori bragged.

" _I'm not the same person you fought back then. I'm a lot stronger!"_ Sakura yelled.

' _She was really reckless back then. I trapped her with ropes and surrounded her with poison fumes. To escape the situation, she used an explosive tag on herself to free herself from the ropes along with blowing the poison away. Now…the only difference I see is that she has the curse mark…don't know what else she is hiding. Better kill her quickly.'_ thought Sasori.

Sasori unleashed the Third's Iron Sand Drizzle. He formed it into a giant pyramid and rectangular prism and attacked Sakura.

' _Perfect for me.'_ thought Sakura and smirked.

Sakura was able to anticipate Sasori's movements and used her monstrous strength to punch and kick the pyramid and rectangular prism around the forest. Impressed by Sakura's strength and realizing she could continue to repel his attacks, Sasori decided to create more Iron Sand, which he formed into a gigantic sphere of branching spikes.

With widened eyes, Sakura looked up as the attack rained down on her. Sakura weaved through the spikes and managed to escape his attack with little more than a few scratches. As the last spike fell and Sakura was readying her own attack, she suddenly felt her legs weaken and she fell to the ground. Sasori had infused the Iron Sand with his special brand of poison.

" _You should know by now that my poison is very effective. The body instantly becomes numb and immobile your chakra. If I left you alone, you would be dead in three days…but I won't make the same mistake!"_

Revealing a blade hidden within the Third Kazekage puppet, he sent it flying towards Sakura to finish her off. At the last second, Sakura suddenly leaped up and destroyed the entire puppet with a single punch.

Sasori stared in awe at Sakura; no one had ever escaped his poison so quickly. Then he remembered Kankuro. Sasori had left him to die from the poison as he had Sakura.

" _You couldn't have…"_

Sakura smirked, proving he had guessed correctly; _"You should really stop leaving people alive, just so they can die from your poison and I told you, I can make an antidote. When I heard you poisoned Kankuro of the Sand Village and left him alive to die from your poison, I disguised myself and visited the Sand village. I extracted the poison from him like I did to myself, and made a cure for him. You left enough poison in his body for me to fully cure him and for me to make a small antidote that neutralize the poison in my body for a few minutes."_

" _What a foolish mistake. You could have taken the antidote for yourself, but instead you gave it to that foolish Sand ninja."_

" _What good would that do? I'm not selfish. Besides, it's way more fun to kill you and collect enough poison from you."_

" _You were the one who let Chiyo escape…"_ Sasori replied.

" _Also correct."_ Sakura answered _, "What I don't understand is how you look so young. Kabuto told me that you betrayed your village many years ago."_

" _Kabuto, huh…"_ Sasori murmured.

" _Yeah, Kabuto. The person you thought was spying on Orochimaru for you, but in truth, he was spying on you for Orochimaru all along."_

"…" Sasori stayed quiet.

"… _That's how Naruto found us….found Orochimaru's hideout…You tipped him off, didn't you…"_ Sakura mused.

* * *

 _ **~Flashback~**_

Sakura was busy training, when one of her followers, a sound ninja, visited her. He told her about a rumor that the Akatsuki attacked and captured the One-tailed, the Kazekage; Gaara of the sand. Someone tried to bring the Kazekage back, but lost the battle and was poisoned. Sakura knew exactly who attacked the village.

According to Kabuto's data book of the Akatsuki, there was only one person in the group that worked with poison; Sasori.

She needed to go there. She needed to extract that poison from that person to make the antidote she had been seeking all these years. Her follower knew exactly what she was thinking about and requested to help her.

She, however, denied the request at first. This was hiding something from Orochimaru and would be a sort of betrayal to Orochimaru; sneaking out of the hideout to visit a village. Especially a village that was against Orochimaru and that had connection with the Leaf village. If they caught her, they'd immediately contact the Leaf and bring her back.

Her follower assured her that he knew what the consequences would be and didn't care. He would follow her and only her.

Satisfied with his answer, Sakura accepted his requested and with his help, she snuck out of the hideout. While she was on her way towards the Sand Village, her follower was pretending to be her. Sakura disguised herself as a traveler and visited the Sand village.

They of course, stopped her from entering the village. The village had been under an attack just a little while ago and their Kazekage was captured. They couldn't just let a stranger in, even if she claimed she was a traveler.

" _I'm a medical. I heard a rumor that someone was poisoned by a strange poison and you guys don't have an antidote. I can cure him."_ Sakura explained.

The sand ninjas hesitated first, but Temari who happened to overhear the conversation, started to yell at them,

" _What are you waiting for?! We don't have time to second guess! She offered to help, let her pass and help!"_ Temari looked at the traveler, her angry expression changed into a worried one, _"C-can you really cure my brother?"_

They let her pass the moment Sakura nodded. She followed Temari to the place where Kankuro was. Sakura stared at Temari's back; thankfully, she hadn't noticed the strange "traveler" was Sakura. If it went on like this, she could accomplish her mission and go back to Orochimaru's hideout without a problem.

But she thought way too soon. As soon as she entered the building, she saw Kakashi and Naruto sitting in the hall. She froze the moment they looked at her.

She wasn't worried about Naruto, but she was worried about the person sitting next to Naruto, Kakashi Hatake. He was a Jonin, a former Anbu member, and what troubled her the most was that he had the Sharingan. She mustn't panic. She needed to hold her chakra steady or he'd notice something was not right. She avoided eye contact with both of them and looked into the room they were sitting across from. She saw Ino attempting unsuccessfully to heal Kankuro.

Sakura took a deep breath and entered to room. She ordered Ino to stop what she was doing; it was no use. She'd just use up all her chakra for nothing. Everyone looked at the new arrival and asked her who she was. Temari entered the room and explained to them that she could help Kankuro. After hearing this, no one except Ino hesitated to ask Sakura what she needed.

" _I will perform a Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, to remove the poison while simultaneously repairing the damage cause by the poison. I need all these materials,"_ Sakura explained and handed them a list. They ran out of the room to get the materials she needed. _"The process itself is extremely painful and requires the patient to be restrained in order for it to work."_

Everyone did as she requested and began to restrain Kankuro. After bringing Sakura the material she needed, she began her technique and saved his life.

After hearing her brother was not in danger anymore, Temari leaned against a wall and sank down to the ground.

" _This technique only draws out most of the poison, not all of it, so the patient can potentially still be in danger, but not immediate. To fully treat the patient, I need to make an antidote. Do you have herbs I can use?"_

Much to Sakura's surprise, she was brought to a medicine storehouse, which held more medicinal herbs than she had ever seen before. She had not been expecting this at all.

After finding all the herbs she needed, she began mixing the herbs together. When she finally finished, she stared quietly at it. After a while she slowly looked around the storehouse. There were only two people in the storehouse with her and they were busy taking care of the herbs.

' _They are too trusting. They just let a stranger enter their village just save their comrade's life. Now, they showed me their medicine storehouse and they leave their guards out…I could use this opportunity to cure myself. I can take this antidote and escape…why…'_ thought Sakura.

" _T-the antidote is done"_ Sakura stuttered.

They were overjoyed to hear the news and escorted her back to the building where Kankuro was. She entered the room and gave Kankuro the antidote to drink.

" _You'll be fine now,"_ she announced.

Everyone thanked her and praised her. Naruto ran into the room, grabbed her hand and thanked her. Even Ino ran up to her to praise her. Sakura immediately pulled her hand away from Naruto. After realizing what she just did, she looked at Naruto who was stunned of her action.

" _S-sorry. Y-you startled me."_ Sakura stuttered.

" _Hehehe, it's okay. I'm sorry too, for suddenly grabbing you."_ Naruto replied with a smile.

The guilt was eating her alive. Sakura betrayed him, her sensei…the two of the three people she cared about most were standing right in front of her. She needed to leave the Sand village immediately. She didn't sign up for this. She came to steal the antidote, but in the end…she saved Kankuro's life. She shouldn't second guess herself.

She bid farewell and slowly walked out of the room, but froze the minute Naruto popped up with a question,

" _Why don't you join our mission? Right, Kakashi-sensei? We are facing that Akatsuki guy who uses poison, she could help us if we get affected by him."_

" _Well…normally we don't do this, but…."_ Kakashi spoke and looked at the traveler…

Sakura thought of the opportunity she had at the moment…she could join them and fight Sasori to obtain the poison she was looking for….but the risk of being caught by Orochimaru that she snuck out of his hideout is dangerously high. The longer she was away, the closer she'd become to getting caught…Also she couldn't fight Sasori while holding her chakra steady in front of Kakashi….The transformation would be incomplete and she'd return to her true self. They'd see that it was Sakura all along….

Sakura bit her lip before giving them the answer she wasn't happy with,

" _No thank you…..I'm just a traveler. I can't fight and I'll be just in your way. You guys are ninjas, you'll manage somehow…just don't get affected…"_

Sakura looked at the speechless Naruto. His silence gave her the answer that she was right. She once again bit farewell and walked out of the building and out of the village.

The moment she couldn't see any sign of the Sand Village, she dashed back toward the hideout. However, on her way back, she stopped for a moment and looked back. She kept second guessing herself. It was staring to frustrate her.

" _Damn it!"_ she cursed and cast a Shadow clone. After cloning herself, she once again hurried back to the hideout.

* * *

When she finally arrived at the hideout, she was totally out of breath. She hadn't taken a single break. The hideout was way too far from the Sand Village; it took her a whole day with no break from the hideout to reach the Sand Village. Now it took her another day to reach the hideout. She had to keep her guard up in case someone noticed her and followed her. She had been away from the hideout for two and a half days.

Hoping Orochimaru and Kabuto hadn't noticed she had sneaked out of the hideout, Sakura slowly walked through the halls and entered her training room. She saw her follower who had transformed into her, was busy pretending he was studying a poison from her poison data book she had collected.

Her follower was relieved the moment he saw her and transformed back to himself. She thanked him before returning to her room to get some rest.

She was exhausted. She hadn't slept for two days. Actually, now that she thought about it, she hadn't slept for three days straight. She had already pulled an all-nighter, before hearing the news about the Sand Village vs the Akatsuki. She was too busy concentrating on her chakra control. She didn't take the time to rest, before she sneaked out of the hideout.

Sakura sighed in disappointment when she thought back on how she gave the antidote to Kankuro. She made the right decision. She just couldn't believe she was _this_ close to having the antidote, the real antidote, but it wasn't for her. She also couldn't believe she was _this_ close to finding Sasori and fight him….but in the end she had rejected the offer.

When she entered her room, she saw Sasuke waiting for her. Her blood ran cold, when something jumped into her head. She had totally forgotten that she had to train with Sasuke…She couldn't come up with any excuse. Without a doubt, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with the training. Heck, she wouldn't last a second the moment they started their training.

"… _I'm sorry, Sasuke. I got caught up with my training, hehehe."_ Sakura apologized with a sarcastic soft laugh.

" _Hmpf, you finally arrived. Get some rest."_ Sasuke replied and walked past Sakura, out of the room to do some training.

' _I finally arrived? Did he know I snuck out of the hideout?'_ Thought Sakura as she looked at his back. _'No, don't think so.'_

She let herself fall down on her bed. She started to concentrate on what her clone had seen;

 _ **xXx**_

While Sakura was on her way back to Orochimaru's hideout, her clone which she cast, dashed back towards the Sand Village. When it finally arrived, she noticed Temari running along with a group out of the village.

' _Naruto and others left already and Temari must be on her way to back them up.'_ thought her clone.

Sakura transformed herself into a Sand Ninja, observed the direction where Temari and her group were going and ran ahead of them. Along the way, she noticed damage to the trees in some areas. She followed the trail until she heard some loud noises. She found a cave and heard more noises coming from inside. She peeked inside to see who was battling against whom.

She observed the area and cast another clone. Knowing that Sasori's partner was someone who could fly with his art Jutsu, she followed the trail where Kakashi and Naruto might have headed. She moved forward until she saw a forest.

" _Tsk!"_ Sakura knew it would be even more difficult to follow Naruto. Until now, she had followed her instinct and observations from the battle field and enemies range of attack. She had guessed everything right so far, but it wouldn't last for long. She slowly walked through the woods to find any damage or trails, but saw nothing.

Sakura began to doubt about what she had guessed and almost decided that this path was not right, but didn't when she heard noises coming from her left. She quietly walked towards the sound and hid behind a tree. When she peeked, she saw Naruto and Kakashi with Gaara. They were able to retrieve him.

' _Meaning, either Deidara is dead, or he escaped, or he is hiding. I should go before they notice me.'_ thought Sakura and released the Clone.

Sakura's other clone who was still at the cave watching the battle between Sasori and Chiyo, closed her eyes to concentrate to see what her second clone had seen. She opened her eyes and jumped above the cave, using her monstrous strength to crack open the ground. The moment the ground crumbled down the lair, she jumped inside and requested Chiyo to follow her.

Without a hesitation, Chiyo followed her out of the Lair towards the path Naruto and Kakashi had taken.

" _You used that as a distraction for me to escape. I could have taken him…No, it was my job to take care of him."_ Chiyo spoke.

" _Then why did you listen and follow me?"_ Sakura asked.

" _I saw that look in your eyes,…You had some unfinished business with him and you want to take care of him…"_ Chiyo paused and stared at the suspicious person, _"Why didn't you fight him?"_

" _I want to fight him some other time. Not now. I want to focus on fighting him and nothing else. Nothing and no one should get in my way."_ Sakura answered.

" _You're not from the Sand Village, are you?"_ Chiyo answered.

Chiyo knew what Sakura's answer was when she stayed quiet. _"Don't worry. I won't say anything. I don't know why, but you don't seem to be a bad person."_

Sakura smiled lightly when she heard that. She showed Chiyo where Naruto and Kakashi were. When Chiyo saw them, she thanked Sakura for showing her the way and wished her good luck on her mission to kill Sasori. After nodding, Sakura released her Clone-Jutsu.

* * *

Back at Orochimari's hideout, Sakura thought, _'Chiyo, huh. I don't need luck. I'm strong. I can kill Sasori.'_ before she fell into a deep sleep.

 _ **xXx**_

 _ **Back to the battle between Sasori and Sakura.**_

" _That day, before Naruto found the hideout, Kabuto walked out of the hideout to meet someone….He was supposed to meet you, wasn't he? But instead, Naruto came. You tipped Naruto off….why?"_ Sakura asked.

" _For defeating that loser, Deidara."_ Sasori answered.

" _So, what's next? You have used your 100 puppets when you fought Chiyo. I doubt you were able to replace all 100 precious puppets in such a short time."_ Sakura spoke.

Not wanting to risk losing any more human puppets, Sasori undressed and revealed the secret to his eternal youth; that he himself was a puppet equipped with various weapons along with his special brand of poison.

" _We have talked enough"_ Sasori spoke and launched himself at her.

* * *

 _ **~To Be Continued~**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome**_


	11. Sakura vs Sasori Part 2

_**Welcome and enjoy!:**_

 ** _Special thanks to my Beta-Reader:_** GreyHowler

* * *

Sasori fired his flamethrowers at Sakura. Just quickly enough, she pulled a rock from the ground to block the attack. The fire danced around the edges of the rock and splayed out in all directions, trapping the fighters in a circle of flame.

Sakura dropped the rock and looked around her quickly. All hiding places and escape routes were completely obliterated now. Sasori noticed the fire as well and switched tactics to use his Water Stream Shooters. He aimed at Sakura again, but instead of using another rock to block the attack, she dodged at the last second. The high-powered burst of water extinguished the fire just behind where Sakura had been standing. She ran through the opening, jumped to the nearest unburned tree limb, and sprinted through the trees.

Sasori gritted his teeth, then used his Water Jutsu to put out another batch of flames before following Sakura.

He did not put out all of the fire, so it continued to spread through the forest, making it difficult for Sakura to hide. Now she had two enemies to worry about: Sasori and the fire. She needed to finish the battle right away or she wouldn't be able to make it out of the area before the fire surrounded her again.

The smoke wafted through the trees, becoming thicker and thicker with each passing second. Sakura paused for a moment to cough the smoke out of her lungs before taking a ragged breath and continued on. If she didn't hurry, death would be her only option and she didn't like any of her three options.

Sasori managed to catch up to her as she took her breath and flung his poison coiled rope from his puppet body at her. She managed to avoid a fatal injury, but the poison covered weapon managed to slice across her side before it thudded into the tree branch next to her.

" _Damn it!"_ Sakura cursed as she pressed a hand against her side to stem the torrential blood flow. She quickly grabbed her last antidote, before the poison paralyzed her and stabbed her arm with the needle. The liquid slowly spread through her bloodstream just as she was feeling her muscles tense up.

Before Sasori could do anything else, Sakura quickly grabbed the coiled rope and yanked it towards herself, pulling him along with it. Using her monstrous strength, she was able to shatter Sasori's puppet body, sending his core of living flesh out of the body.

Believing to have won the battle, Sakura receded her curse mark. She quickly began searching for the coiled rope, intending to use the rest of the poison to make another antidote. The smoke was starting to get too thick for Sakura to breath and she started to cough. She needed to get out of there soon or risk having lung damage.

Sakura found Sasori's coiled rope and was about to pick it up, but stopped when she suddenly felt a presence behind her. She turned around to attack, but froze the moment she felt something slam into her torso.

" _Your mistake for letting your guard down."_ Sasori spoke.

" _Nngh!"_ moaned Sakura. She was unable to heal her wounds as the sword in embedded in her stomach was laced with poison, shutting her system down.

" _Same goes for you."_ Sakura replied, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. She grasped the sword tightly, preventing Sasori from pushing the blade further.

Sasori frowned, _"What do you-Gah!"_

As the groan left his lips, Sasori's head fell forward and saw another blade, this one sticking out of his own chest. He coughed and drops of blood spattered his chin.

" _I see…You used yourself as bait…-so your clone-… could take the opportunity-…to attack me from behind…"_ Sasori said as he realized what she had done. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the clone as she stepped back, pulling the katana with her. She disappeared with an audible _poof_.

Sasori collapsed to his hands and knees, blood pouring out of the hole in his chest. He coughed violently several times, spewing blood all over the surrounding ground. Slowly he stopped coughing and sank to the ground, dead. Sakura stared at Sasori's body, for a few seconds before she too collapsed on the ground the sword still sticking through her torso.

 _ **xXx**_

Several miles away, an explosion wracked both the air and ground as Deidara attempted to kill Sasuke with his most powerful attack: suicide.  
The groups of Hebi and Leaf ninja searching for Sasuke and Sakura each saw, heard, or felt the impact and rushed toward it.

Somewhere near the explosion, Suigetsu was busy searching for something in his pocket. He took out a scroll, Sasuke had given him and immediately noticed that a painting of a snake had disappeared.

" _No way!"_ he yelled and quickly took a tiny bottle contained with Sasuke's blood out of his pocket. He placed a drop of Sasuke's blood on the scroll to summon Manda, one of Orochimaru's snakes. The giant snake popped up, but was lying oddly on the ground. As he watched, Suigetsu saw a heavily injured Sasuke crawl out of the snake's mouth.

" _Wow! You're all torn up! Who did you fight?"_ Suigetsu asked as he rushed over to Sasuke and kneeled next to him _down._

Before Sasuke could say anything, Manda cursed Sasuke with his dying breath for using his Sharingan to control him and use him as a shield.

" _Ah, he died."_ Suigetsu said blandly and looked up at Manda. _"Animals should be treated nicer."_

" _Found you!"_ Karin yelled as she approached Sasuke and Suigetsu with Jugo running beside her.

" _You used Manda and a Jutsu to fly into different space, but why are you so torn up?"_ Suigetsu asked.

" _Right before I_ _left_ _, Manda and I received the hit. My opponent was a member of the Akatsuki. He was stronger than I thought…"_ Sasuke replied.

" _Wait, where is Sakura?"_ Jugo asked after he looked around and realized she wasn't there.

Sasuke looked around and noticed Jugo was right, before answering the question, _"She was also fighting a member of the Akatsuki."_

" _What?! We better find her!"_ Suigetsu yelled and stood up.

" _I'm here!"_ Sakura yelled as she approached them with her summoned cat, Denka running beside her. When she saw Sasuke's injuries, she sped up until she reached his side and immediately began to heal him.

" _Sakura…"_ Denka whispered. He wanted to inform the rest of her friends of her injuries, but Sakura shook her head slightly at him.

" _Are you okay?"_ Suigetsu asked worriedly.

" _Y-yeah. I just had trouble escaping from the burning forest."_ Sakura stuttered avoiding eye contact with him.

" _Hmpf, you were able to defeat an Akatsuki_ _?_ _"_ Karin asked. She was jealous of Sakura. She had wanted to be the one to heal Sasuke, but Sakura jumped ahead of her.

" _You were fighting against a member of the Akatsuki in that?"_ Suigetsu asked as he pointed to the thick column of smoke rising above the treetops.

He watched for a few seconds as the smoke column grew wider; the fire was spreading rapidly through the forest.

" _Yeah. He was using a flamethrower Jutsu. It was a little hard to fight him when all you could see was smoke and fire."_ Sakura answered, still not making eye contact. She was too worried about Sasuke's situation.

" _What is Denka doing here?"_ Sasuke asked and looked at the summoned cat.

" _I asked Denka for help to get me out of the forest and to track you."_ Sakura replied and looked at her cat. _"It was too hard to see through all that smoke, but that aside… look at you. You're a mess. Are you okay? What happened?"_

" _Sakura, you can heal Sasuke later. We should get out of here first. The fire and the explosion will track too many people."_ Suigetsu spoke.

They all agreed and retreated to the nearest town's safe house where Sakura tended to Sasuke's wounds.

" _Did anyone get any leads on Itachi?"_ Sasuke asked while Sakura was busy bandaging his forehead.

Suigetsu and Karin shook their heads. Sakura had been too busy fighting Sasori and had died before she could ask him about Itachi. But Jugo was able to find a lead through the help of animals.

" _You are going to rest, right now. We are going after you are fully recovered."_ Sakura demanded. Seeing no way out of this, Sasuke didn't argue back and decided to listen to Sakura.

After Sasuke finally fell asleep, Sakura stood up and walked up to a corner. She leaned her back against the wall and placed her hand on her face.

" _Sakura…."_ Denka whispered and looked anxiously at her.

" _Are you okay?"_ Jugo asked and walked over to stand next to her.

" _Y-yeah. I just overused my chakra."_ Sakura answered with a fake smile. She slowly kneeled down on the ground and removed the medical pouch she was carrying.

" _You should rest too, Sakura."_ Suigetsu said.

" _I'm okay, really…"_ she replied. Denka walked closer to Sakura and put his paw on her thigh. He noticed she was sweating and breathing heavily.

" _Hmpf, weak…"_ Karin whispered softly.

Suigetsu overheard her and glared at her, but decided to stay quiet. He was too concerned about Sakura to argue back. As they watched Sakura dug through her medical pouch and took all kinds of herbs out along with a bottle containing a purple liquid.

" _What is that?"_ Karin asked with her hand on her hip.

" _Poison….A special kind of poison. The Akatsuki, Sasori, attaches this to all of his weapons. I'm making an antidote."_ Sakura answered.

While Sakura was busy making the antidote, Denka and Suigetsu watched her work, while Jugo patrolled and Karin took a walk in town to fetch some supplies.

After a while, Sakura finally finished making the antidote. Karin came back at about the same time with some supplies.

Coincidently, Sasuke woke up when she entered the room. Karin tried to say something to Sasuke, but was cut off when Suigetsu said to her,

" _Took your damn time getting back."_

Sakura sighed as Suigetsu and Karin started to fight again, but suddenly Jugo's murderous impulses began to manifest. Karin and Suigetsu stopped arguing and jumped up on Jugo to restrain him. They shouted at Sasuke to calm Jugo down and he immediately used his Sharingan to eradicate the urges.

" _I'm sorry."_ Jugo apologized once he calmed down.

The moment he activated his Sharingan, Sasuke noticed something was odd and looked at Sakura.

" _Sakura…"_ he started, but got cut off when Karin suddenly gasped loudly. She closed her eyes and began focusing, clenching her eyes and fists with the force of her concentration.

"What's wrong?" Jugo asked.

"They're definitely getting closer….no doubt about it…." Karin mumbled with her eyes still closed; "There seems to be several of them…..One of them's definitely not human…..a dog, maybe….."

"They're tracking us by scent…." Karin continued mumbling. She opened her eyes and shouted at them, "We've been followed!"

"If there are as many people as you said, then odds are it's the Leaf." said Sasuke.

"Of all times…..why now?" Sakura whispered in a frustrated tone. She suddenly felt heavier and slowly fell to the ground.

" _Sakura!"_ Denka yelled the moment he saw her body lean forward. Sakura's breath became heavier, ignoring Denka's shout. Everyone was stunned at her sudden collapse and simply stared at her for a few seconds.

Suigetsu walked up to her; he helped her sit and let her lean against him. He placed his hand on her forehead to see if she was burning up, but nothing; she wasn't feverish.

" _You are running out of time!"_ Denka shouted, just loud enough for the others to hear.

" _Tell me what's going on!"_ Sasuke demanded and glared at her, "Where is the real you?"

Everyone looked at Sasuke, confused. They didn't understand what he meant by that. Sakura of course, knew what he was talking about;

" _You noticed it, huh…"_ Sakura replied and looked at Sasuke, " _The moment you activated your Sharingan to calm Jugo down, you noticed it."_

" _What is she talking about, Sasuke?"_ Karin asked.

" _You're a clone…."_ Sasuke said.

The moment he said those words, Karin began to concentrate to look for the real Sakura, but Sakura requested her to not to bother. She, with the help of her summoned cat, Hina had hidden her presence along with her chakra.

" _Where is the real you, Sakura?!"_ Sasuke, raising his voice.

" _Where Sasori and I fought."_ Sakura answered.

" _Wait, you're still in that fire?"_ Suigetsu asked worriedly. She took a deep breath before telling him the truth;

" _I did win the battle between me and Sasori, but I'm in critical danger._ _I can't hold this clone for much longer._

" _Why haven't you healed yourself?"_ Suigetsu asked.

" _I can't. My body can't move and I have trouble controlling my chakra."_ she answered and looked up at Suigetsu whom she was leaning on, _"Even if I could heal, I would die anyway."_

" _Why_ _?"_ Jugo asked.

 _ **xXx**_

 _ **Right after defeating Sasori;**_

Sakura collapsed on the ground. She couldn't move. The poison had paralyzed her.

' _Is this the end for me?_ ' Thought Sakura, _'I'm sorry Sasuke…..I don't think I'll be able to keep my promise to stay by your side….'_

Sakura slowly closed her eyes. She thought back on everything that had happened before and after she left the village. An explosion at the edge of her hearing snapped her out of her thoughts.

' _That's where Sasuke and Deidara are!'_ Sakura slowly pulled her hand closer to her mouth. She bit her thumb, drawing blood, and placed it on the ground,

' _I can't give up!'_ _s_ he thought.

" _Summoning Jutsu!"_ she shouted. Hina and Denka appeared next to her in a puff of were delight to see Sakura again, but were immediately concerned when they saw her condition. After summoning her cats, Sakura cast a Clone Jutsu.

The clone appeared and walked up to Sasori's weapon and gathered enough poison to make an antidote.

" _Denka, can you please guide….my clone out of the burning forest and….._ _and_ _bring her to Sasuke? I need to…._ _to_ _make sure he is okay…"_ Sakura spoke as she struggled to breathe.

" _What about you? Don't you need to worry about yourself? We can help you…"_ Denka asked.

" _I can't move….The poison is paralyzing….me. It's going to…take some time to make the antidote. Once my clone help_ _s_ _Sasuke….she'll make the antidote….and bring it here with your help, Denka…."_

" _What should I do?"_ Hina asked.

 _"I need your help to….hide my presence and use….use Wind Jutsu to shield us from the fire…and blow away the smoke so we can breathe….please?"_ Sakura pleaded.

Even though they were not pleased with the situation, Hina and Denka decided to listen to her request; Denka managed to lead the clone out of the fire, but something was troubling him.

" _I can't sense Sasuke's presence._ " He finally said.

This made Sakura even more worried. She looked around the forest. She didn't know which way the explosion came from. She came up with another idea,

" _Do you remember Suigetsu?_ _"_ she asked Denka, _"_ _The one you hissed at?"_

" _Hmpf, yeah I remember him,"_ Denka replied.

" _Can you track him and bring me to him?"_ she asked.

Denka did so and brought her to Suigetsu, who was with Sasuke and the other two.

* * *

Sakura held back the situation she was in and only said, _"I have been infected by Sasori's poison. I have the antidote right here,"_ She answered and held the bottle high up to show them. _"_ _But now t_ _he problem_ _has become_ _even bigger now that the Leaf ninjas are here."_

Sasuke was worried and angry at the same time. _"Why haven't you told me this sooner?!"_

" _I was counting on something else, but I haven't been able to awaken it….yet…"_ Sakura answered, lowering her eyes in shame and disappointment, _"I'm sorry…."_

" _We'll head back,"_ said Sasuke as he stood up. Suigetsu and Jugo also prepared themselves to head out, but not before scolding Sakura for keeping this to herself.

" _Karin, I need you to f-"_

" _No, Sasuke_ _,_ _"_ Sakura cut Sasuke off, " _Hina is masking my presence. With the Leaf on the search, it would not be wise for her to stop for Karin to find me. The Leaf might find me first."_ she gave the antidote to Denka to pass it on to Sasuke and continued,

" _Denka can lead you there while Karin focuse_ _s_ _on the Leaf to avoid encountering them."_

" _Hmpf."_ Karin didn't like to follow Sakura's orders; she only listened to Sasuke, but she decided to stay quiet and obey this time, after seeing Sasuke in such a bad mood and didn't want to make it worse by disagreeing.

" _Why can't you show us the way, Sakura?"_ Suigetsu asked, but she suspiciously stayed quiet. He wanted to ask what was wrong but before he could, the Clone Jutsu was released, _"That's why…."_ he muttered irritatedly.

" _We need to hurry!"_ Denka shouted.

* * *

 _ **xXx**_

* * *

 _ **~To Be Continued~**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome**_


	12. The Truth

_**Welcome and enjoy!:**_

 ** _Special thanks to my Beta-Reader:_** GreyHowler

* * *

~Gasp!~,

Sakura sucked in air loudly as she jerked up, panting. After catching her breath, she start to observe her surroundings. She was sitting on a futon inside a private room alone with bandage around her waist.

Trying to remember what had happened, she thought long and hard about what happened before she finally fainted from the blood loss, exhaustion and pain she had had to endure while waiting for her team to find her.

 _ **xXx**_

 _ **~Before she fainted~**_

" _We need to hurry!"_ Denka shouted.

They rushed through the forest that was filling with smoke and fire, trying to find Sakura. As Karin was busy tracking the Leaf ninjas, they had to take the long path to avoid encountering them. All their caution might as well have been for naught as the trail of soaked and burnt forestry created by the bursts of Water Jutsu as well have given away their position if anyone was paying attention.

" _Sakura!"_ Sasuke yelled and picked up his speed the moment he caught sight of Sakura on the ground in a clearing just in front of them. Hina was sitting next to her, eyes closed in concentrating to help Sakura hide her presence while also using Wind Jutsu to shield them from the blazing inferno surrounding them.

" _T..thank...you,"_ whispered Sakura as she saw Denka leading her team to her rescue. With great sigh of relief, she released the Summoning Jutsu and allowed herself to relax a little.

It was so tempting to just close her eyes and take a little nap, especially now that she knew she was relatively safe. Then again, who cared of she was safe or not; she was so tired. Only the nagging voice of her two former medical trainers, Tsunade and Kabuto, telling her the consequences of falling prey to her body's desired kept her from falling asleep.

" _We need to hurry!"_ Karin shouted _, "I used Sasuke's old shirt as a distraction to send them the wrong way, but it won't be long before they pick up our tail again."_

Suigetsu immediately set to work extinguishing the flames around them as the others attended to Sakura. Jugo knelt down by her side and inspected the wound.

" _Sasuke, give her the antidote. Hurry. Sakura, I need to pull this out or we won't be able to stop the bleeding once the poison's gone,"_ he said. Sasuke and Sakura nodded and Jugo slowly and gently grasped the hilt and inched the two-foot blade out.

" _Ngh!"_ Sakura only just managed to hold back her scream as black spots danced in her vision from pain and exhaustion. While Jugo was distracting her, Sasuke took the needle with the antidote Sakura's clone had given him and jabbed n roughly into her arm. She barely noticed the pinprick against the excruciating pain in her stomach, but she managed to concentrate on following the cold liquid's path as it wound its way through her body.

Now that the poison was gone, Sakura used the last of her strength to stop the gushing flow of blood leaking from her torso. She didn't even notice Sasuke reaching one arm under her legs and the other under her neck to pick her up.

" _Karin, can we go back to the inn?"_ Sasuke asked once he had Sakura, now soundly unconscious, securely in his arms.

" _No, we can't,"_ she answered, _"But there is another town nearby. For now, it should be safe to go there."_

 ** _xXx_**

 _ **~Back in the present~**_

Sakura's cheeks began to turn red. She had, once again, been in his arms. After a few softly squeaking like a fan girl for a few seconds, she began removing her bandages and healed what was left of the stab wound along with other wounds she had received during battle.

She had used the Yin Healing Wound Destruction, a Medical Jutsu she had learned from Kabuto which requires the user to anticipate the area of the body an enemy will attack and preemptively apply medical treatment, on the spot Sasori had stabbed her and thus managed to keep it from being a fatal wound. The Jutsu had been prevented from reaching its full potential by the poison, but it had done its job long enough for her to receive the antidote. Now, she used the chakra she had regenerated while she was unconscious to further heal the wound.

~Creak~

She looked up as she heard the door open and saw Suigetsu peeking through the crack. He greeted her with a smile, relieved to see her awake, then turned away.

" _Looks who's awake_ ," he shouted to whomever was behind him, _"Sasuke! She's awake!"_

" _Where are we?"_ Sakura asked.

" _With the Leaf chasing us, we had to go to a different town."_ Suigetsu replied as he entered the room, followed by everyone else.

Suigetsu walked up to her to check on her wound and was surprisingly amazed at her healing skill. He handed her a bottle containing an antidote her clone had made when Sasuke was resting from his wounds. The poison had been so strong she needed to take two doses of the antidote. She drank the bottle and was finally fully cured of the poison.

" _Explain yourself."_ Sasuke demanded. She took a deep breath before she began telling him the truth;

" _Something happened back when we were still living in the Village. I was send on a mission alone, requested by Lady T-...by Tsunade. It was a simple easy mission. I completed it without a problem, but when I was on my way back to the village…..let's just say I was at the wrong place at the wrong time._

" _You encountered Sasori,"_ Jugo supplied. Sakura nodded and continued,

" _Back then, I didn't know much about Akatsuki. However, I knew right away that he was no good. When I fought him, I was able to break his puppet, but he managed to injure me. It was a superficial wound, but his weapons were laced with his poison. I was paralyzed almost instantly."_

" _Clearly you are alive. I'm guessing he spared you."_ Karin spoke unimpressed. Ignoring Karin's comment, Sakura went on,

" _He told me that the poison would kill me within three days and left me there on the ground. I managed to move a bit and made my way back to the Village. Due to the poison however, I wasn't able to reach the Village as soon as I could and wasted one of my last three remaining days. I could feel the poison killing me from the inside out. I went straight to the hospital and made all kinds of antidotes, but nothing changed."_

" _Nothing worked?"_ Suigetsu asked.

" _No…,"_ Sakura answered, _"I tried all the herbs I had in any way I could think of, but I didn't know what kind of poison Sasori used. I could ask Tsunade for help or I could go after Sasori, but when I saw you leaving the village, Sasuke….I didn't want yo-...I-I mean, I thought I could use that opportunity to extend my life force with the help of people who loves to experiment on people: Orochimaru and Kabuto."_

" _Why Kabuto?"_ Sasuke asked.

" _Kabuto knows about medical stuff, maybe he could make an antidote to rid my system of the poison. When I told him what happened and if he knew Sasori, he told me the harsh truth: that it was no ordinary poison. It was poison Sasori made himself. Kabuto couldn't cure me, he could only extend my life until I found Sasori, killed him and obtained his poison. Really, I think he could have cured me but he loved to see me struggle and thought it was the perfect opportunity to experiment on me."_

It had gotten quiet around the room again. Everyone was listening to Sakura's story. Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. All of that happened when they were still living in the Village and he hadn't notice a thing. From the sound of it, she had been hurting a lot. The poison had been eating her from the inside and she could have died any day.

" _That's why you couldn't sleep and were coughing blood."_ Sasuke spoke, breaking the silence.

" _Yeah...I almost died several times, but Kabuto injected me with all kinds of drugs, medicine and weird stuff."_ she answered.

" _That day when you and Kabuto visited. He injected you with something and you fainted. That's why you didn't want to talk about it."_ Suigetsu said.

Sakura looked at Suigetsu and slowly nodded. She looked back at Sasuke. She could see his face and neck turning red with anger for keeping such a secret from him.

" _That day, when you snuck out of the hideout….it had something to do with the guy you were looking for?"_ Sasuke asked.

Sakura chuckled, _"I knew you had noticed it. During those years, I also studied the scrolls I brought with me which Tsunade had given me. I learned how to extract poison out of someone's body. With my perfect chakra control, I could do it, but it was too late to use it on me because I had already taken so many concoctions."_

" _Where did you go?"_ Sasuke continued asking question.

" _I heard a rumor that the Akatsuki attacked the Sand Village and someone was poisoned by Sasori."_

" _What!?"_ Sakura flinch as Sasuke suddenly shouted, _"That was stupid and dangerous!"_

" _I know!"_ she shouted back, _"But I had to do it….even though I met Naruto and Kakashi there…"_

" _What?!"_ he shouted louder. Karin placed her hand on her face and shook her head.

" _They didn't notice me. I was in disguise,"_ Sakura continued, _"I was able to extract poison from him which was enough to make the antidote. I studied all kinds of herbs and all kinds of poison for the past three years just for that moment. I was able to make the antidote to neutralize the poison...but…"_ she paused and looked at the ground.

" _You couldn't take it for yourself. Instead you saved that person's life."_ Karin finished Sakura's sentence.

" _That was both brave and stupid of you."_ said Suigetsu.

" _Hehehe….I couldn't be so selfish,"_ Sakura replied and laughed softly, _"Besides, I encountered Sasori sooner than I expected and was able to defeat him and now I'm fully cured."_

~Sigh~

It was the only thing Sasuke could do, nothing else.

" _I'm sorry…"_ Sakura whispered. Everyone was silent for a few moments, analyzing her decisions. One by one, they left the room, wanting to give Sasuke and Sakura what privacy they could have when he blew up at her. Karin at first didn't want to leave, but Sasuke was clearly still pissed and decided not to push it. He managed to keep his voice down,

" _Why did you hide it from me?"_ he asked.

" _I don't know,"_ Sakura shrugged, _"What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, I forgot to tell you, I'm dying due to a poison I don't know how to neutralize and I'm using all kinds of drugs and experiments to extend my life force until I find the person who is responsible for poisoning me'? No way! I would just get in your way."_

Before Sasuke could say something, Sakura just continued,

" _You already think of me as an annoying girl. I didn't want to burden you with my problem."_

" _I don't think y-"_

" _Don't think what?"_ Sakura asked, unknowingly cutting him off.

" _Hn, nothing…go get ready."_ he replied and walked out of the room. With a confused expression, she watched him walking out of the room.

* * *

As soon as she was alone, a smile crossed her face. She was finally free of the poison in her system, the drugs she repeatedly had to take, and the painful experiments she had to go through because of Kabuto.

Now she could put all her focus on preventing Sasuke from walking onto a darker path. On Naruto who wouldn't stop coming for them. She was pretty sure that he was one of the Leaf ninjas who were tracking them earlier and who were still on their tail. Kakashi might also be with them. If not, that guy who introduced himself when Naruto and his team attacked Orochimaru's hideout, Yamato would be there.

Sakura found it rather sweet how Naruto wasn't giving up on bringing them back, but she also wished he would stop. She and Sasuke had work to do. She felt like the more he pursued them, the more likely it was for Sasuke and Naruto to fight again. That was the last thing she wanted.

The first time they fought was when they were still in the Village; on the rooftop of the hospital. They only stopped because she begged them to and stood in between them with Kakashi saving her in nick of time.

The second time they fought was when she and Sasuke left the Village. She had held back and let them fight. She couldn't intervene or Sasuke would have left her there and joined Orochimaru alone.

The third time they fought was when Naruto and his team attacked Orochimaru's hideout. She took care of Ino and Sai while Sasuke fought Naruto and Yamato. He had wanted to use a powerful Jutsu that might have killed them if she hadn't stop him and came up with an excuse for him not to use it.

If there ever will be a fourth time, they'd probably try to kill each other and she wouldn't be able to stop it. She wouldn't be able to stand back and watch again. She might attempt to stand between them like she had the first time, except they would be so blind with adrenaline and rage that they wouldn't see her. There would be no one around to save her at the last second.

She wondered how the others must have felt when she betrayed them; her friends...her sensei….her former master….and her parents. Were they angry? Disappointed? Hurt?

Sakura sighed and berated herself for thinking too much. The near death experience was making her overthink everything.

" _I'm not having second thoughts. I'm not having second thoughts."_ Chanted Sakura silently as she shook her head. She bit her thumb, drawing blood and placed it on the ground,

" _Summoning Jutsu!"_ she shouted. Hina and Denka appeared next to her in a puff. They were relieved to see her fully healed.

" _Thank goodness, you're alright, meow."_ Hina spoke first.

" _Is everything alright?"_ Denka asked.

" _Yeah, everything is alright,"_ Sakura replied, _"I just wanted to thank you guys for helping me. I want to give you a bottle of catnip as a gratitude."_

They happily accepted her gift and sat enjoying their catnip. A few seconds later, Suigetsu entered the room as he had something to tell Sakura, but got distracted when he saw Hina and Denka.

Suigetsu reached down to pet Denka, but the cat hissed and released the Summoning Jutsu. Denka and Hina disappeared in cloud of smoke. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at Suigetsu's failed attempt.

" _Very funny."_ Suigetsu said.

" _Sorry, sorry,"_ Sakura replied as she wiped her tears away _, "What did you need?"_

" _Oh, right…"_ Suigetsu scratch his head sheepishly. He had almost forgot the important part, _"Karin said the Leaf tracked us again and are on their way here."_

After hearing the news, Sakura immediately stood up, gathered her stuff and walked out of the room. Everyone was busy preparing to leave and head for the location where Itachi was rumored to be.

When Sakura had last seen him, Sasuke was wearing his dark blue pants, over which hung a blue cloth that covered him from his stomach to his knees, secured with a purple rope belt; As was common to Orochimaru and his followers. Sasuke had also had worn a white long-sleeved shirt which he kept open at the torso.

Now, he was in a sleeveless dark grey shirt with the same dark blue pants, minus the purple belt and blue cloth, and had bandages on his wrists.

" _Will you be alright, Sakura?"_ Jugo asked.

" _Yeah, my wounds are healed."_ she answered and slipped her red hoodie on to cover her pink hair, not wanting to hinder the group by standing out in town, _"Are you ready to fight Itachi, Sasuke?"_

" _Yeah. Absorbing Orochimaru's abilities really increased my healing power,"_ he answered, _"Let's go."_

* * *

They quickly made their way out of town and, one by one, leaped into the trees and took off towards the nearby Akatsuki's hideout. Karin used once again, the birds Jugo had called to scatter the strips of Sasuke's clothes around the area to make it difficult for the Leaf ninja trackers to find them.

A little while later, they were each perched on a different tree overlooking Akatsuki's base. They watched for a few minutes before Sasuke ordered them to wait outside while he infiltrated the hideout. Sakura wanted to protest, but obeyed quietly, too tired to argue. Her wounds might be healed but her body hadn't recovered at all.

" _Are you okay, Sakura?"_ Suigetsu asked, noticing her increased respiration.

" _Yeah,"_ she managed to reply, _"My body hasn't fully recovered from the fight. I also wasted too much chakra."_

" _I'm sensing someone else's chakra"_ interrupted Karin as she pointed towards the base Sasuke had entered.

Worried for Sasuke's safety, they each glanced at each other before rushing to the entrance. They skidded to a halt just inside the hideout, expecting an enemy, but only saw Sasuke staring at the ceiling while black feathers floated in the air around him.

" _I thought I told you to stay back until I said otherwise."_ he said as he calmly shifted his gaze to them.

" _Karin said she sensed someone else's chakra, so we got curious."_ Suigetsu replied.

" _We're moving. Follow me."_ Sasuke ordered and walked past them back outside.

They once again leaped through the forest. Sakura wanted to question Sasuke about their new destination and what had happened inside the base, but held her tongue. Her exhaustion was starting to really sink in and she was having trouble keeping up, not that she would say anything to any of them.

Suddenly, Karin stopped and exclaimed, _"There's a bunch of people with identical chakra all around us! What the hell is this?!"_

' _Identical chakra? Shadow clone? Is it Naruto?'_ Thought Sakura as she leaned against a tree next to Karin.

" _Do we need to take another route, Sasuke?"_ Jugo asked. Both he and Suigetsu were on the same branch, back to back, looking for threats.

" _Ignore it. We'll charge straight through."_ Sasuke replied as he scanned the area.

" _Thank God. Detours always wipe me out."_ said Suigetsu. They started their journey again, expecting enemies but at the same time hoping they would just be able to avoid them. Before Sakura and Karin had managed to jump more than a few trees, Naruto appeared on their left.

" _Sasuke! Sakura-Chan!"_ he yelled.

While Naruto was busy screaming, Sasuke had doubled back on himself and slashed at Naruto with a Chidori. In horror, Sakura put her hands on her mouth and widened her eyes. It happened too fast and her mind was still processing what her eyes had seen. She didn't want to believe Sasuke had finally managed to kill Naruto.

" _What the f-"_ Karin said but was interrupted when Naruto disappeared, leaving in a puff of smoke.

" _A shadow clone…"_ Suigetsu mumbled. Sakura was immediately somewhat relieved. Now more than ever, she didn't want them to fight for the fourth time.

" _Naruto…"_ Sasuke mumbled, _"He never gives up…"_

He turned and led the group further into the forest. They managed to travel for quite a while without encountering any more clones. Finally, Sakura had to stop, no longer able to keep up with the group at the pace they were making.

" _Hold on…"_ Sakura gasped in exhaustion and stood on a tree branch, trying to catch her breath.

" _We need to hurry, Sakura."_ Sasuke replied, finally stopping a few meters ahead of her and turned around.

" _I know….I was just out of breath."_ She took another breath before lifting her head to show she was alright. They were all staring at her, frozen in place. She looked to each one waiting for an explanation, but never receiving one. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke's expression shift from surprised to furious,

" _What's w-"_ she started to say, but was interrupted.

" _Foolish little brother,"_ said a voice echoed behind Sakura. She gasped as she felt her own limbs stiffen with fear. She felt someone's arm wrap around her waist and the voice said, _"Big mistake for letting your guard down."_

" _Leave Sakura alone!"_ Sasuke shouted and dashed towards them. He stretched his arm out to Sakura as she did the same toward him.

" _Sakura!"_ Suigetsu and Jugo also leaped to her aid, hoping they in vain that they could save her. Karin stood still motionless, still frozen with shock and bewilderment at how she hadn't sensed him.

" _S-Sasuke!"_ Sakura yelled while a tear rolled down her cheek. Her and Sasuke's fingers were millimeters away from each other when she and Itachi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

 _ **~To Be Continued~**_

 _ **Review! Favorite! Follow! and stay awesome**_


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